


Persephone

by Cynara



Category: MacGyver (TV), Stargate SG-1, The Pretender, The Sentinel
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-06-16
Updated: 2011-06-16
Packaged: 2017-10-20 11:35:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 28,717
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/212350
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cynara/pseuds/Cynara
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is a Stargate sequel to Keystone. This story contains themes explored in The Pretender, meaning medical assault.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Persephone

**Author's Note:**

> Great thanks to Periwinkle who betaed this. Remaining errors naturally are caused by grammar fairies.

  


  
Persephone

A sandy haired man smiled warmly at the clerk, brown eyes dancing as he paid for and got back the change for his postcards. He fingered his bangs on the way out of the shop, looking at his reflection in the door. His hair was getting long again. Might get a haircut before he went home.

A younger, distinctly military bearing man took out a cellphone and made a call. "We have a problem, double-trouble." He listened. "Yes, I'm keeping him under surveillance." He kept to the sidewalk.

MacGyver continued his saunter in Colorado Springs. Sam had called saying that he was going to have to take a raincheck on camping; news wouldn't wait for its picture to be taken.

His thoughts were interrupted as men, and women, fell into place around him. "There's got to have been some sort of mistake." He hadn't thought much about the military people around him, the Springs being home to not one but two Air Force installations, the Academy and Norad. Mac found himself being escorted to a black van, in a very gentle, unobtrusive broad daylight kidnapping despite his attempts at resistance. They carried him when he went limp and applied pressure when he started to struggle.

The quiet daylight kidnapping wasn't unheard of, but the kid gloves did make him curious. He chose not to be the one to escalate matters; after all it was their superiors, and their superiors' orders, he had a problem with.

He tried breaking the ice, getting some sort of sense of who these people were and what they thought he'd done. They were consummate professionals, and politely resisted the bait. Troubling. Mac sat back, open to developments. The route the van took was indirect, though he was sure he'd be able to find his way back. He kept his hands where they could be seen, wary of his detail.

When the van stopped he was taken to a room, one institutionally nondescript, and certainly provided with surveillance. He sat, then puttered around the room, peering into things that might be cameras. If he was here for any length of time, he wanted his watchers amused and complacent, and to know all the resources he had available.

* * *

  
"Sir?" Col. Jack O'Neill swung into the room closing the door with a snick of the lock. His attention was focused on the image on the screen, nodding slightly at Gen. Hammond. The prisoner could be him, if he still had brown, brownish, hair and had let it grow out. The man appeared to be about his age, fit in a rangy way, and entirely too calm about his captivity. Jack considered the confidence that took. "What do we know?"

"Sgt. Gere was down in town and spotted our guest. After the situation with Jon, he decided to call it in and a team picked this man up. Fortunately they had the presence of mind not to take him all the way down." He'd found their report disconcerting, as if their captive had chosen to not make real trouble.

"Has Janet seen him?" Their pocket Napoleon was getting to be an expert on counterfeit O'Neills, between the recent Mini-Me problem and the earlier mechanical men. He wondered if this was a double-bluff.

Hammond exhaled. "I'd rather limit his contact with distinctive SGC personnel until I know what is going on."

Meaning Hammond wanted Jack to find out what was going on. "Shall I change?" He'd just gotten into his BDUs when the Sgt found him. They'd probably started calling him after he was too far into the Mountain to get a signal.

"He knows this is military." Whoever, or whatever, was in that room, stupid wasn't a trait he'd ascribe to him. He'd assessed the room carefully, like an experienced hostage. That in of itself worried Hammond.

Hammond hadn't missed a thing. Jack pulled off his SGC and team patches, feeling a bit weird without them. He stepped out the door.

Hammond watched Jack enter the room and their guest's reaction.

Mac turned as the door opened. Himself, if he'd gone grey and was military. He took in the Air Force insignia, the only patch on the man's jacket. "That's an interesting uniform. Casual day at NORAD?" The newcomer tensed infinitesimally. "You're why I was picked up. I'm retired, but then you know that. Need to be in two places at once?" Mac always liked a little fishing.

Jack didn't like how perceptive this man was. "No, yes, no, and just who in the hell are you?" Jack resisted smirking when the last of his comments caused a bloom of confusion. He took a seat.

"MacGyver." His look-alike had to be stirring him, they wouldn't just grab anyone. Then again... Mac harnessed his indignation.

Jack noticed the change in their guest's posture, subtle as it was. He was used to being captured for who he was. "Got a first name?" Funny that the man only got pissed because it wasn't personal.

"My friends call me Mac."

Jack smiled at the flinty answer. "MacGyver, we may have been hasty in picking you up." And maybe not. "Exactly what did you retire from?"

"Odd jobs. Talk to the Phoenix Corporation, or if you prefer, DSX. Used to work for them freelance."

Retired his ass. Jack wasn't believing this. DSX worked tandem with the CIA, though its operatives respected no political boundaries. _Freelance_ DSX? Jack stood. "Is that supposed to intimidate me?"

"Colonel, I expect nothing intimidates you." Mac smiled.

Too smart by half. "O'Neill, two ells."

"I'm on vacation."

"I thought you'd retired?"

"I'm not from around here."

"So you just thought you'd check out the Springs?" It was a bit sloppy. Unless he _wanted_ to be caught.

"My grandfather left me a cabin."

Jack nodded. "Just what does a retired freelance agent do? When he's not on vacation?"

"What does an Air Force Colonel do at Cheyenne Mountain that makes BDUs his duty uniform?"

* * *

"Have you heard?" Major Samantha Carter leaned into Daniel's office. She smiled when he looked up, clearly at a loss. "They found a lookalike of the Colonel."

"Why does he need a look-alike?" Daniel unfolded himself from his desk, deciding that if he was going to be interrupted he might as well eat.

" _Found_ as in 'stumbled across'. We've got a debrief, ASAP."

So much for food. He tried to remember what he'd had for lunch; he must have had lunch. Right? Daniel looked at his watch, surprised at the time.

"What translation are you working on?" Sam recognized the fatigue of intense focus.

They conversed as they walked to the briefing room. Daniel slipped into his regular seat and noticed Teal'c's absence. He blinked at the man sitting across from him and looked at Jack. "Wow." The hair was the major difference, longer than he'd seen Jack's and the wrong color, but the stranger's expression was also different. More open, even under the circumstances. Daniel was pissed when captured.

"I'm Mac."

Hammond cleared his throat. "This is Doctor Jackson, and that is Major Carter. Mr. MacGyver has had an unusual break in his vacation. Doctor Fraiser, you had some findings?"

"Yes. I did some tests, and I have some questions. Colonel, could he be your half-brother?"

Two sets of brown eyes focused on her. She clicked on a remote. "These are your genetic sequences. I would normally only expect this amount of overlap in half-siblings."

Jack started to speak but Sam beat him to voice.

"Are you _the_ MacGyver?"

Mac inclined his head abashedly.

Sam realized she'd interrupted the Colonel. "Sorry, Sir."

Jack looked at her. "Why'd you never mention _this_?"

"We studied his methods. He was an active operative, so there were no pictures."

"You're originally from Minnesota?" Mac smiled as the table turned back to him.

"Yeah." Jack thought that there was no way this man was his brother.

"Doctor Frasier, that sort of overlap could happen with cousins." Mac liked the woman.

"Yes, it could. Under very specific circumstances." Janet considered the possibility.

"Minnesota?" Jack wondered where Mac was going with this. "I know my aunts and uncles. Knew, for some of them. None of them a MacGyver."

Janet looked at the Colonel. "What about your second cousins?"

"People you share great-grandparents with." Daniel pitched in helpfully.

Jack glared at Daniel, before thinking. "Um--" He looked at MacGyver. "What about you?"

"The weather was bad for my grandmother's funeral. I don't know what Harry might have done with any cards."

"Harry?"

"Mom's dad. She didn't have any siblings, and I never met any of her cousins."

MacGyver had come up quickly in the database. Hammond considered it fortunate he'd worked closely with the military before. "I suggest that the two of you work on piecing together your family trees." Hammond wasn't willing to discount this chance encounter. He'd seen too much in the past seven years to overlook any strangeness.

"Together?" Jack looked at Hammond. If the shoe was on the other foot...

"Considering the inconvenience we've put him through, I think you should put yourself at his disposal." Hammond reminded himself it was Jack's headstrong nature that made him so effective against the Gou'ld. "If you're agreeable, Mr. MacGyver."

"Mac." One of his stranger vacations. "It's going to take some calling."

Just as they started dismissing there was a low rumble and Mac looked at each in turn. He didn't miss the glances the major and Dr. Jackson cast around.

"Colonel, escort Mac off base."

Mac knew he'd gotten his answer about O'Neill's uniform.

* * *

"SG-5, welcome home." The returning drenched marines handed over their weapons and weather gear to the waiting SFs.

"Glad to be back, Sir. The rainy season held off just until we entered the chamber."

Hammond quirked his mouth at that. "Report to the infirmary. Debrief at 1700 hours."

One of the men brushed past another, with intense brown eyes. "Kirby, what'd you think?"

"Good to the last drop." He unstrapped his helmet, revealing very dark hair.

The marine laughed at that laconic answer and slapped Kirby on the back. "The Gate's a rush all right." He followed his team out.

Jarod completed his look at the Gateroom and caught up with the other men. He hadn't expected a harnessed wormhole when he'd come to Cheyenne Mountain. The deaths he'd come to avenge had turned out to be completely explicable given travel to other worlds and now he was left with the problem of extracting himself from a highly secret project.

"Same procedure as pre-mission." Doctor Fraiser smiled at the tall marine. She liked to personally conduct the first post-mission physicals when possible. "Any injuries? Headaches, numbness, feelings of extreme cold?"

* * *

"Nice house." Mac was curious, about that rumble and about Jack O'Neill. Especially since the man would have read his file. Mac wanted to rebalance things if he could. "You've had look-alike trouble before."

Jack turned from the now locked door. "You really are annoying. Beer?"

"Sure. I think I'm pretty easygoing, considering I got kidnapped today."

Jack answered from the kitchen. "You're used to it."

"Retired." Mac took the offered bottle.

"Tried that, didn't like it. You?"

"I keep busy. Look, even twenty years ago this would have been difficult. Harry wasn't the most talkative of men, and that just got worse after Grandma died."

"Don't suppose you know her maiden name?" Jack went over to a bookshelf and pulled out a photo album. "That's pretty country. Harry's cabin. Not much of it left I expect."

"There wasn't much to replace either." He was sanguine about the various explosions in his life. His work had had a way of following him; too often he lost friends, not things.

Jack cleared a spot on the coffee table and opened the long album. The photos were black and white, attached by slits in the pages or paper corners. "I think most everyone is labeled, except a few of the wedding pictures." He carefully flipped pages. His mother had sent the book when Charlie had had a school project.

"Celia."

Jack looked at Mac and then the page. "It might say that."

"That's my grandma. Twenty years younger, but that's her."

Jack found that too convenient by half. "Considering we look alike, how can you be sure?"

Mac granted the observation. "She had a twin brother. She was the elder by a few minutes, though Frank was born the next year." He couldn't recall Frank's last name though.

Jack remembered a picture of Grandpa O'Neill and his sister, one of his aunts had it. High school graduation he thought. Impossibly young spitting images, impossible to match with the old man Jack knew. "Any other family stories you remember?"

"There were some Andersons, but that's less helpful than Jackson." Harry wasn't big on ties. As proven by his disappearance to what had turned out to be Alaska and then Colorado.

Jack sat up. "Don't mention that around Daniel." It was a kicker of a coincidence.

"Okay." Mac watched the cold intent appear in Jack's eyes and shutter just as quickly.. That their paths hadn't crossed before was suggestive of what Jack had been doing before the Mountain and its rumble. He hadn't needed a double; he'd depended on not being seen. Mac pondered .

Jack had turned back to the photo album, spinning it so the spidery handwriting wasn't clear from where Mac sat. He turned back a page he'd flipped, one of the big gathering pictures that wasn't labeled well. After a few named people it said "and MacGyvers" in a tight linear script. More a seismograph output really. There was a small building and an ice cream churn in the picture. Grandpa O'Neill, labeled as Francis, was barely visible and blurry. He closed the book. "MacGyver isn't an uncommon name."

"No. Neither is O'Neill."

"There's another Colonel with only one el."

Mac chuckled at that, wondering what Jack had found. He was dissembling. "You found something."

"I need to make some calls. Figure out who you can contact."

* * *

SG-8 came off the ramp, shedding weapons into the hands of waiting SFs.

"Colonel McQueen?" Hammond looked the team over; in their way they were as bad as SG-1 and it was good to see them all standing under their own power, even if early.

The African-American woman replied, "We need different trade goods but it looks promising. I'd like to return this evening to continue the negotiations before Sandburg wears off."

Hammond smiled. "Head to the infirmary, and I'll have someone join you for the list."

The four men behind her stepped from the ramp. One, several inches shorter than the others, had his very unmilitary long hair caught with a few braids. He had a sidearm holster strapped to the thigh of his BDUs. One of the other men, military from his close crop to his boots fell in behind him. Ice blue eyes above twilight ones.

The halls of SGC were busy at the current hour and the shorter man acknowledged a number of people as they reported to medical. His eyes followed one of the Marines.

"Chief?" The taller man looked at the man by his side.

"I keep thinking I recognize him. I mean from somewhere else."

Jim tipped his head slightly. Often people that didn't want to be recognized reacted to people that could do exactly that. "Where?"

The shorter man exhaled. "If I knew _that_ , I'd know who I think he is. Jim?"

"I don't recognize him."

"Maybe a class or a lecture." He shrugged it off. He needed to focus on the continuing negotiations. Travel was difficult on the planet, and the ability of young men to 'carry' their elders' voices long distances was very appealing to the natives. P3Y-632 was situated within ship range of many planets the SGC had ongoing interactions, in addition to possessing mineral and medico-botanical resources.

* * *

Hammond looked between the two men. Even after all he'd seen, it was uncanny how much they resembled each other. He had thought it unexceptional that Jack appeared the older, military life could do that. Knowing Mac's history he couldn't attribute it, not entirely, to miles traveled.

"Gentlemen, what did you find?" He watched them drift one eye to the other.

"Gramps married a MacGyver." "Grandma was an O'Neill."

Hammond stared at the men. "And you _just_ learned this?" He'd given Jack a day away from reports to solve this matter.

"I was raised in Chicago."

"It never came up." Mac thought for a moment. "Harry wasn't much to reminisce about painful things."

Like the wife lost on an icy road, son-in-law driving. The man had apparently focused on his daughter being left a widow. Hammond wondered which Mac had reminded Harry of more. "Colonel, brief Major Fraiser. Mac, my apologies for this interruption."

* * *

"Doctor Toussard." Blair looked over at Jim from his bedroll.

"What about him?" Jack Kelso had warned them that the Centre had a long memory, even if it could be distracted. Their paths hadn't crossed in six years. They'd been at the SGC four.

Blair sat up. "Jarod." He looked at Jim, his concern growing. "The marine I kept thinking looked familiar."

Jim stopped what he was doing and went to his Guide, extending his senses. "We need to return to base."

"Send word, yes." Blair got up and dressed, flirting like it was breathing. He looked up as Jim's hands caught him. "Jim?"

"You're not playing with me." Something, something he couldn't detect, was wrong with Blair. They, all the men and women that went through the Gate were the most medically inspected and certified people of Earth.

Blair judged the words. "I'm surprised you didn't recognize him." He placed one of his own hands over Jim's.

"That's because whoever Kirby looks like, it's not Jarod." As if the SGC didn't have enough problems with NID. He was surprised to find himself being pulled by Blair, shirt half-buttoned in total disregard of propriety and military order

"We've got to get back to base." Blair led them out and found Col. McQueen. "We've got to go back. Any of the possibilities could be dire and I need to figure out which one is happening."

Colonel McQueen looked up at Blair before she stood. "Choices?"

Blair looked around, then whispered. "There might be a mole."

* * *

Ellison and Sandburg stepped through the Gate to a room of alert SFs. "We're going straight to the infirmary." They looked at each other.

Hammond said into the microphone, "Proceed" as the two men descended the ramp, the SFs giving a wide berth. He went to the stairs himself.

In the infirmary he found Major Fraiser inspecting Ellison, Blair on the phone. "Just what did you get into?" He'd learned over four years how heightened senses and interplanetary travel mixed. And that Blair's ability to find trouble was only exceeded by his creativity in getting out of it.

Blair looked at the doctor, smiling when he was waved to her office. "Sir," he continued once he'd shut the door, "there are people that have the ability to study and become anyone they want to be. Not in years, but in weeks. I believe one of them is here."

"A mole?" NID planted them occasionally, limited by their ability to suborn personnel of SGC-caliber. This...

"Jarod helped us with a very difficult matter in Cascade."

Hammond breathed deep, standing straighter. "The secret burial." Dumping. It had been past Black Ops, and they might never identify all the remains. "And you think he's here?"

The fax machine started printing.

"I called Cascade PD for a picture. Jarod is here as a Marine."

Hammond turned towards the door. He didn't like it when things didn't add up.

"I'm worried about Jim too." Blair took a breath. "He didn't recognize him, and more, he still doesn't believe it." Blair took the page off the fax, showing it to the general before sweeping into the infirmary. He ducked through the curtain.

Jim waved the paper. "Chief, we know what he looks like. But that's not going to make him Toussard."

"That's Toussard. I just called Simon, and Rhonda sent that."

"It's-" He dropped his hand to the exam bench.

"What did Toussard look like?" Fraiser resumed her exam.

"Maybe a bit like this, but the face was different. The hair. Shoulders." He deflated as he had to accept his senses had lied. "Why would Jarod stay?" He held up his hand to Blair. "He didn't recognize us either. I confused you, so you didn't think he was case-related. But he has to recognize people that he's seen before. That's the essential rule of undercover. Control."

Blair hopped around, recalling how one prisoner made Jim. One transfer...

Hammond pulled the curtain aside. "He's gone."

Jim stood, grabbing his shirts and shrugging them on as he walked.

* * *

Jack looked flummoxed. "One man got in? What sort of security are we using?" He'd pulled the cover and skimmed it before Hammond reached the briefing room. It still looked as in order as when he'd read it as one of several new transfers.

"He checked out in Cascade, too."

Jack bit back his first response. He knew just how careful the PD was ever since a serial killer masqueraded as a psychiatrist. "We have to go after him."

"Yes." Hammond looked at Ellison and Sandburg. "What are we up against?"

"As of six years ago he was being pursued by the Centre, which he'd escaped. He courted capture, baiting their operatives whenever his trail became too cold for them to follow."

"Just great." Jack was very quiet for the rest of Ellison's -with Sandburg sidebars- account, only offering cogent assessments. The profile was uncomfortably like a serial killer. Someone you cornered at great risk. Had the Centre regained control of their rat? They had to get Jarod before the Centre did. All men could be broken.

* * *

Daniel looked at the navy and black flannel shirt Jack was pulling on in the locker room. "Going somewhere?"

"Yes."

Daniel bit the inside of his mouth. "Alone?"

Jack turned. "I'm taking Ellison."

"Let me know when you get back." Daniel left the locker room to find out what had happened to negotiations on P3Y-632. It gave him something to concentrate on.

He stepped out of the elevator.

"Doctor Jackson." Gen. Hammond stepped into the elevator guiding the younger man back in. "Just who I needed to see. We've had a security breach."

Daniel's eyes went wide. Daniel waited as the elevator reached the correct level, following Hammond into Sam's office.

"I've gotten several hits already." She tilted her head at the basket under the printer and Daniel pulled out the sheaf of paper. "I've piggybacked the search into our camouflage program, doing the final sort internally."

Daniel rifled the pages, then pulled out a third and set it aside. "Jarod?"

An ID photo of a dark haired man appeared on her screen. "Most recently Sgt. Jarod Kirby, SG-5. Blair recognized him from a Cascade case."

Daniel looked at the general and back to Sam, arching his eyebrow. Not Jim and Blair?

"Blair's not sure about that either." She handed Daniel a sketch. "That's what Ellison says Toussard looked like." Sam smiled as he looked up. "Thing is, I feel like I should recognize the sketch."

"Um." Daniel had had the same thought. He turned around to avoid distraction, both of them having that feeling couldn't be coincidence. He whirled back around. "Bring up a picture of Dr. Samuel Beckett."

Sam did a double take and typed in the request. Why Daniel had thought of the Nobel prize laureate... A few pictures came up, a smiling blue eyed man with a prominent nose and a shock of white in otherwise sandy hair. They looked between the ID photo of Jarod, the sketch and the screen. Sam hit a few more keys and merged a picture of Jarod with Doctor Beckett's.

Daniel tapped the sketch. "Curious." He turned back to the papers in his hands, reading through them. "Avenging Angel?"

"It matches with the account of the case in Cascade. There he insinuated himself as a forensic specialist. Mind you, this search will only find articles that match its parameters. Using his first name seems a rather glaring liability."

"You'll be able to call these back up again?" Hammond extended his hand for the papers, Daniel giving them as Sam nodded. "This should help the team prepare to retrieve Jarod."

"Yes, sir."

"Look into the Centre without causing them to look back. Find out if Jarod baited any of their operatives while he was here." Hammond left the lab, skimming the papers.

* * *

Jarod accessed his e-mail account that Sydney sometimes used to contact him. He no longer tried to lure him back to the Centre. Jarod distinguished the current 'performances' from the earlier attempts. There was one message, from an account the Centre didn't yet know. It was a single name, Pocotopaug. Jarod ran a program to segregate the word from how and when he'd received it.

He was still too close to Colorado Springs to investigate it further. He would though. Sydney had to consider it important. Alternatively, it was part of a Centre trap. There was no guarantee the e-mail hadn't been compromised. Traps had their uses.

Jarod pulled away from the Starbucks.

* * *

Jack drove, Jim riding shotgun and Blair sitting behind Jim. They had been able to follow Jarod off the base easily, with regular canvassing necessary in Colorado Springs until Jim found the trail. The 'trail' was made up of the scent and sight of tire treads on well traveled road. Jack only had to make sudden turns with no notice. Blair was deep coaching Jim, reading signs even fainter than the treads. Splitting Jim's focus to make it sharper. Keeping it from drifting on trivialities. The right side of the truck was very Pinball Wizard.

"I can hear him."

Jack was surprised to hear something that was not a direction from Jim. He glanced at Sandburg in the rearview mirror.

"We're maybe three miles behind."

Maybe it was an obvious question, but Sandburg hadn't seen him in the mirror. He didn't think Blair was more than tangentially aware there was a car, just Jim and Jim's tracking.

"Turn left."

There was barely a road, just a car-width cleared of boulders and larger fallen trees.

"Stop."

It took Jack a moment to find somewhere only pitched in one plane. Jim and Blair were both out in a shot. Jim stood behind a tree, Blair behind Jim.

* * *

Jarod wondered about the one word message Sydney had sent. He'd searched it quickly while he had to stop for gas. He'd found it on a map, in upstate New York. That it was a short trip from Blue Cove wasn't lost on him. What he didn't know was whether he should head there or as far away from it as possible.

He turned. There was a flash again. He rolled away from where he'd been sitting and pulled out a high power sight. Sunlight was reflecting off the hood of a late model SUV. He picked out the passengers, nearly dismissing them as hunters, going back to the shorter one. Faces weren't quite clear, but braid-caught long hair wasn't common. He looked at the other men.

Was there a tracer he'd missed?

"He's spotted us."

Jack didn't turn, didn't look up from his investigation of ants climbing a tree. "What's he doing?"

"Pulled out after patting down the car. He'll ditch it as soon as he's got another option."

Jack pursed his mouth. "Will you be able to follow him if he does?"

Jim didn't answer, just got back in the truck, his eyes on a distant target.

"Give him more room, not enough to make him suspicious."

Jack nodded at Blair's suggestion. Geeks were sneaky bastards, god love them.

They slipped just a bit back, likely still within his ability to see them, gaining and losing as if with the lay of the land. An hour later Jarod found his chance, making like a stranded motorist with a drained cellphone. They looped around, keeping him and his good Samaritan in sight and staying out of Jarod's.

Jarod stepped into the diner of the small town he was left in, smiling at the waitress, ordering a meal and heading to the payphone. He called the station whose tow had taken the car to see if his 'friends' had come in yet.

He hung up when he found that they hadn't.

"Shit."

Blair squeezed Jim's shoulder.

"He called the tow, found out we didn't follow the car."

"Shit." Jack wanted a clean extraction and they wouldn't get it. "Has he made us again?"

"He's looking."

"Can we follow far enough back?" He considered options for getting a helicopter. He should have gotten someone to call on the tow truck.

"What's he likely to have?"

Jack considered Blair's question. "We better not make any assumptions." Jack prepared to take all his signals from Blair.

* * *

MacGyver had decided since he was this close he had better check on the cabin he'd built on Harry's land. The bamboo structure had faired well against the raccoons, though he clearly had more to learn about what birds could do. The nest was fortunately empty of any chicks so he put it in a tree and patched the hole. He'd bring gourds next time. They were just trying to keep their eggs away from the raccoons.

That was the problem of a home away from home, others decided to set up housekeeping while you were gone. The wildlife probably felt the same way. At least as long as he owned it developers couldn't put in tract homes.

Mac stepped behind a tree. His binoculars were, naturally, not around his neck but on the table he'd brought out from inside the cabin. Someone was coming up the path, or rather, coming up mostly parallel to the path. He'd perhaps left Cheyenne under worse circumstances than he'd thought.

While his company had to deal with a knobby rooted tree he rolled to the table, grabbed the field glasses and a few other odds and ends. Night was coming and he'd just have to set up a little greeting.

Jack looked at the terrain, rather peered at where the terrain had to be. Driving without lights in the mountains was crazy. Crawling would be more accurate, so it wasn't like they were in _too_ much danger, unless he crested something with a very long drop down. Crazy.

He stopped the car only after Jim and Blair had opened their doors, Blair leaving the vehicle a beat after Jim. Jack got out after setting the emergency brake. He had little idea where he even was, having taken so many goat paths and logging roads. Blair was again shadowing Jim, like some sort of bunraku master.

It wasn't that often SG-1 and SG-8 went through the Gate together. The debriefs he'd sat in on hinted at this, but seeing was disbelieving. This was what Col. McQueen 'sanitized' out of reports. Jack wasn't used to being the liability on a surveil.

He brought the infrared goggles up slowly. There was a cabin in a clearing, a jeep parked to one side. No people. He scanned slowly, building a mental map. They'd already had a few 'surprises' from Jarod. Jim had allowed them to avoid the boobytraps in time, but it had been close. Jack wanted Jarod. Almost wanted a fight. He reminded himself he was older. Never give an advantage.

Mac dropped a pinecone a foot in front of the man he'd found lurking in the woods. He spoke as the man looked around. "I'm Mac." A friendly introduction could solve a lot of problems. "Car trouble?" He waited for the man to make a decision.

"No."

Mac had already decided that this wasn't a confused motorist or even a lost hunter. That he'd gotten an honest answer could be a positive. "Someone's following you." He'd have to take the rockfall apart before he went home. He hoped a cub didn't set it off in the meantime. Momma bears shouldn't be angered, it just wasn't neighborly.

"Who are you?"

"Sorry, that's my question." He dropped down and Mac grinned as the man spun around. The tree was too far from the others to give much advantage. The average bad guy would have pulled a gun by now, if he had one. "How about who's following you?"

Jim tensed a shoulder. Blair looked over Jim's shoulder, then waved at Jack. He stepped closer, then handed over the infrared goggles. Blair peered through them, his stance changing.

What was going on down there? Before Jack lost it, Blair let go of Jim and offered the goggles back. Jack took them and brought them up.

"Mac." The unbelievable thing was that Jarod was still. Jack signalled Jim to move to around to the other side. Slowly he alternated with Jim and Blair in closing in on their quarry. He saw first Jarod look up and then the flash of a zat'nik'tel. He jogged down, quickly patting over and disarming Jarod.

"Jack." Mac looked at his cousin, then the two men coming from the direction of the blue light. The taller man was military. "Blair?!"

"Mac!"

"Colonel?"

Jack knew Jim's sardonic tone didn't bode well, and he was almost as confused. "Sandburg?" The zat was going to cause problems, though he doubted Jarod would have surrendered peacefully. "You've met my cousin?"

"Chief."

"It's been years, how have you been?" Blair looked at Jack and Jim, seemingly at the same time. "Your cousin?"

"Way back, I mentioned the hockey games?"

"NBA playoffs and World Series." Jim pulled out restraint ties and went to help Jack secure their prisoner.

"Way cooler." Blair picked up the weapons put out of Jarod's reach, removing the magazine and clearing the chamber of the automatic.

Mac watched Blair. "Has Naomi processed this?" He very much doubted it, whatever she might say. He saw Blair's back stiffen. "She doesn't know." Though it had been years since he'd last seen them, he was as sure of that as that Blair wasn't actually military, despite company and training. Just what were they doing under NORAD? "Jack, who is that and what did he do?"

"He didn't tell you? And, I can't tell you that."

"This is where you invite me back to the Springs? I need to disarm a few things first." He wasn't surprised when the third man followed him, but was when he veered left and cleared two traps Mac hadn't seen.

* * *

Jim noticed when Jarod woke up and started playing possum. He signaled Jack, and waited.

"The Stasi?" Blair questioned.

"It was a living. And before you get the wrong idea, that wasn't the only sort of jobs I went on. Sometimes the toxic situations weren't political. What about you?"

"Oh, this and that. Drove long haul with my uncle, did some welding, went to school. The usual."

Jim kept his attention on their prisoner, Blair's deflection mere background.

Mac recognized Blair's verbal tactic even as he played into the daisy chain of reminisces. The kid had been very focused, and dissertations didn't happen from flitting so lightly as his commentary painted. Almost happen. Other than the obligatory "Mac, this is Jim" there had been no elaboration on how they'd met.

"Jim, why do I think I've seen you before?"

"Read Time?" Jack had been listening to the patter Blair was lying down and how it completely skirted Cascade, police work and graduate school.

"South America." Satellite photos were getting very good just then, enough to pick out individual graves. He was still missing pieces, but worrying that puzzle lost out to the fact that the man between Blair and him wasn't nearly as unconscious as he was playing. From personal experience, that led to interesting things.

* * *

"Major, you have something?" Hammond closed the distance from the shut lab door to Carter's computer.

"I've accessed the Centre's memory farm. I can confirm a psychiatrist named Sydney, and his imprint on a number of simulations. Lists of buyers. And this." She hit a key on her computer and a woman with dark hair was displayed. She was joined by a tall man.

"Colonel Simmons." He thought for a moment. "When was this meeting?"

"It may be after he took Conrad. I can't make out what information is being passed. The Centre has ties to a number of genetic technology companies, Immunitech Research among them. I've also found that they've a habit of 'acquiring' medical doctors that have been disbarred. You'll recall Mr. Raines from Ellison and Blair's account."

Hammond mulled over the information. "Do your best to learn more, but stop before you're caught. I don't want them to start sniffing back."

Sam nodded, "Yes, Sir".

Hammond left.

* * *

Jack drove through the gate, presenting his ID at the checkpoint before making for the rear entrance. Before Blair or Mac could unfasten their seatbelts, Jack zatted Jarod between them. He parked the car and got out, opening Blair's door. "Let's get him contained before he wakes up again. Att, contained. Talk later."

Mac opened his door and started pulling out Jarod, Jim helping. A detail met them as they neared the SGC checkpoint. They strapped the prisoner's arms to his chest and short-shackled his ankles before taking total charge of Jarod.

"High security." Jack didn't want to take any chances after his firsthand experience at how wily Jarod was. "No visitors without General Hammond's express order." Jack watched for a moment. "And presume he's awake." He watched them shift their captive slightly, gaining a more secure grip. "Mac, this way. You'll recognize the room."

* * *

Blair went into his office, pulling out the stack in his inbox. P3Y-632 was being handled by the rest of their team, and now he needed to look at the next mission. He flipped through the papers, considering what references he'd need, all the while aware of Jim leaning by the door. "And?"

Jim stood up and stepped closer. "You've never mentioned Mac."

"I did. Who do you think gave me the pocketknife?" Blair smiled.

"For your bar mitzvah. You never said who. Or talked about hockey games."

Blair inhaled. "He dated Naomi for a short time. I was, eleven. He'd not gotten with her when we first met." Blair stared at his wall. "I was surprised when I looked up from my Torah passage and saw Mac."

Jim crossed his arms.

"I guess I didn't mention him because he wasn't like the others. You know, a lot of communes careened from near disaster to catastrophe because no one knew what they were doing. That's how I met Mac. Now, I think he must have just gotten back from the Army, but then he was... He knew how to fix everything. After six months he left." Blair thought. "We moved on not too long afterward."

Jim put his hands in his pockets.

"We traveled a lot. Everyone Naomi knew did, at least it seemed that way. We ran into Mac again, in, damn, anyway, we did. India, maybe Kashmir. It was three years later, and it turned out Mac had been in college. I couldn't imagine staying in one place that long."

Jim chuckled.

"I know, I know. Maybe I compensated at Rainier. After that, we'd get settled in and forwarded letters, books, would appear. Not always in the order left. Mac was moving around too, so things could be sporadic."

"And you never thought to mention he looked like O'Neill?"

"Only side by side. I mean it. You can't think of anyone less like Jack than Mac."

* * *

Mac peered around the room, figuring that they might come in sooner if they got nervous. For a secret project they didn't do a good job with cover. He wondered what they said they did; that they hadn't mentioned it suggested a doozy.

So far he had a rumbling mountain, a look-alike Special Forces cousin, a Ranger and Blair. Oh, and a doctor of unknown discipline that Jack was clearly protective of. A doctor that wore BDUs. Blair had clearly known what to do in the field. He wondered how the 'ray gun' worked.

He'd seen the press conference, the first time with the sound off. Clearly Blair had lied, when he repudiated his dissertation. It explained why he didn't mention school, and why Jack was so ready with a deflection. Blair's new skills made sense; for him to be an effective spotter he had to go where Jim went.

Just what put Dr. Jackson in the field? Mac turned at the knock on the door, which then opened. Speak of...

"I thought you might be hungry." Daniel looked at the tray. "You'd sort of have to be." He set the tray down on the table. "Thanks for pitching in."

Mac nodded. "Just what does an anthropologist do for the Air Force?"

"I'm an archaeologist."

Mac noted the speciality information and Daniel's realization of his slip. Why was it a slip?

"And a linguist. I do translations."

"Does Blair do translations too?"

Jack entered, spoiling the question and sparing Daniel from answering. "There you are. Mac, sorry about this, but Hammond's going to want to debrief you. We should have you out of here in time to send you back by chopper tonight."

Mac nodded in resignation. Information control. There was a period of time, duration to them unknown, he was alone with their- "Can you at least give his name?" He really hated thinking of anyone nameless.

Jack thought a moment. "Jarod. Just what happened before we showed up?"

"When someone comes through the brush when there's a path in sight, you check up on them."

Jack raised his eyebrows.

"You know how Harry's cabin was destroyed." Mac tried another tactic. "Jarod's an innovative thinker." Anything he'd found was either natural or discarded since the last time Mac had been up. Raccoons didn't know not to play with matches. Jack wasn't biting. "He really didn't want to be caught." Several of those traps could easily have killed someone. He'd felt better about leaving so quickly when he'd realized who Jim had to be. "Think Blair could visit? He can talk for a long time without saying anything."

Jack snorted while Daniel arched an eyebrow, thumbing the corner of his mouth. Jack shot a look that suggested Blair wasn't the only one with that skill. "Makes him perfect for government work. I'll see if he's busy." Jack headed for the door. "Daniel."

Mac watched as his company left. He knew about salvage archaeology, but a combat archaeologist? He looked at the food, and sat down to eat.

* * *

Jarod awoke handcuffed and shackled, complete with belly chain. He'd been zatted. He looked around, recognizing that he was in a SGC cell. He sat up, figuring they already knew he was awake. There were two guards outside, SOP for the situation. He listed, catching himself by grabbing the edge of the bed. Instead of the bolted flat or hooked through wire springs he'd expected there were welded seams. He felt the rigid tube. No room was inescapable. He stood, shuffling to the toilet. He did his business, noting that only the bowl was in his cell, not even a flush mechanism. Turning to the sink he found the tap motion activated and the liquid soap in an indent of the steel. He washed. He walked a circuit around the room.

"This is General Hammond." Jarod looked for the speaker. "The SGC is a top secret installation. You have learned things that directly affect the security of this world. Why did you infiltrate my base?"

"A lot of good men and women have died in deep space telemetry." Jarod waited for a retort. The truth often was distracting. He continued to wait.

"You're well informed. That wasn't in question. You did get into the SGC, and served such that SG-5 thinks well of you. Did you honestly think we wouldn't find you?"

Jarod didn't answer. He finished his round around the room and returned to his cot, laying down. He studied the ceiling. The lights went off. He waited. He started to sit up and a half-level light pooled around the plumbing. Bright enough to disrupt night vision. Jarod lay back down and the light extinguished. He tested it a few more times before closing his eyes and sleeping.

* * *

"Major." General Hammond looked at Carter, then the technicians huddled around Jarod's laptop.

"He's good, I've put these specialists on finding out everything there is to know from this machine. What e-mail he's sent and received, what searches he's made. We'll find out, Sir."

"Understood. Carry on." Hammond walked down the corridor to the elevator and headed up. He might as well get an early start on debriefing MacGyver. Let the man get back to his vacation as soon as possible. Talk about a busman's holiday.

"That explains the second mug." Mac was eating the breakfast the SF had brought him. He stopped and filled the cup, holding it out. "You've got good coffee." Hand-off completed, he took a sip from his own mug.

"Safer that way." Doctor Jackson had been in a terrible mood when he'd ran out of his own supply and found the brew in the commissary intolerable. It hadn't even taken much to improve the coffee. "I am sorry about this business."

"Well, I was probably bound to run into Jarod. These things happen to me. At least Jack wasn't a surprise."

Hammond nodded at that. It would have been a serious distraction, of which Jarod would have taken full advantage. "So, you know Doctor Sandburg."

Mac looked up, surprise evident.

"He did have a perfectly valid dissertation, despite the novel leaked to the media." He watched Mac weigh his statement. "According to Col. O'Neill's report you noticed someone approaching your cabin."

"I noticed someone in the woods. They were following along the road which seemed pretty suspicious. I went to check out the situation."

"You were found in a clearing with Jarod. Describe from when you went to investigate to when you were found."

* * *

Daniel looked up from his coffee. "Funny that he ran into your cousin. The cousin you just met. Who looks just like you."

"It wouldn't have been funny for Mac." Jack had noticed that with the light as it was, Jarod hadn't gotten a good look at the man he was talking to until they had all shown up. He'd seen the recognition just as Blair had zatted Jarod. Misrecognition. That realization had been on Jarod's face as he fell, Jack coming out of a shadow.

"No." Daniel drank more coffee. "What is Hammond going to do about Jarod?"

Jack rubbed his eyebrow. "I'm glad it's not my call." The man clearly wasn't entirely stable; how could he be, after what amounted to being raised as a prisoner? He had however been doing some very necessary work. The problem was they couldn't be sure those were the only things he'd been doing. Jack knew of too many seemingly upstanding soldiers that had led double-lives. And now Jarod knew about the Gate, had been through it.

* * *

Jarod woke up to the lights going on. Then the door opened, one SF carrying a tray, while two others trained weapons on him.

"Stay where you are. I'm going to set this on the floor and then I will leave. Then you may get it." She knelt, keeping her eyes on him, sat it down and then stood. She retreated without disrupting the line of fire of the airmen behind her. The door locked.

Jarod got up and moved over to the food. No flatware. He picked up the mess tray with its short stack of pancakes, cottage cheese and sliced fruit. He set the meal on the foot of his bed before rolling one of the pancakes into a scoop.

They were good, not giving him opportunities. The tray he could use as a bludgeon, but he couldn't hide it. He thought about his flight. They had started looking for him hours before he'd expected and he didn't know why. He'd been tracked more efficiently than should have been possible, though alien technology might explain that. A tracer he couldn't find.

Two O'Neills. That was disconcerting. 'Mac' had been in shadow so all Jarod had seen was a general outline. He still didn't know how they'd gotten him into place. That had been Jarod's first mistake, the time he'd spent talking with 'Mac' had allowed the others to get into place. An error he'd only realized when a cloud edged past the moon and he'd seen the man's face. He was already falling from the zat when he saw the Colonel.

As he ate he considered the other two. Blair and Ellison. It was a strange choice when the Colonel could have taken SG-1. Again, Ellison was a Ranger. They were a strange team; effective though. His short time at SGC demonstrated that. He thought about that, and how Ellison would go on edge.

He'd been told Ellison did that with anyone new. Nothing personal. As he thought about it though he realized that Blair had been a little off around him too. He should have noticed that sooner, but he'd seen the civilian anthropologist in the middle of a conversation have a sudden insight and dash off, more than once.

He popped the last piece of fruit into his mouth. He considered his options for escape and what the best routine was to start. In the end he placed the tray a bit in from the door, then remade the bed before stretching out on it as best he could.

* * *

Blair hung onto the door. "Um, sorry I didn't come by earlier. Work. Not 9-5."

Mac chuckled. "No need to explain. Doctor." He watched Blair flush. "Come in, Blair. So, they straightened things out? Naomi doesn't know you're working for the Air Force."

"Willfull ignorance. She knows I'm in the Springs."

Mac thought about that. He hadn't been the only reason they didn't last. "You let your hair grow." He'd not recognized Blair right away on the press conference.

"You've seen it short."

Blair had a point. As a kid he'd looked like a cross between Harpo and Little Orphan Annie, though his hair hadn't been exactly short. "What have you been up to? Don't worry about lately." He smiled when Blair chuckled.

"Well, you know I was going to school in Cascade, Washington..."

* * *

Hammond considered his two 'guests'. He would be letting MacGyver go soon. In many ways he'd have rather had the Sgt. not see him. Men like Mac were fired by curiosity, and satisfaction kept bringing them back. He'd seen and heard enough to want answers and likely would get them.

Jarod was a more pressing problem. He did know, and unlike Mac wasn't security vetted. He was wanted by an inimical organization, one that had raised him as a tool. Blair's account indicated Jarod was emotionally connected to Centre members. Furthermore, he was an expert at falsifying and purging computer records. Anything they could learn had to be suspect. There were few scenarios worse than this case.

Their internal review however had come out clean as to Jarod's service. He did think certain incidents pointed to the SGC being blasè about esoteric skillsets. As if comparative ancient writing systems was standard Marine training, or just anyone could correct interplanetary drift calculations.

He wondered if Dr. Sandburg had an idea as to how Ellison had misseen Jarod originally, or if Major Carter's investigation into NID dealings with the Centre had borne fruit. He stood from his desk and left his office.

* * *

"Sheba, how could I possibly damage your anthropologist?"

The colonel talking from the MALP just stared back at him.

"Would I be having this conversation if I had?" Jack didn't like how quickly she accepted that point. He shook his head at backing himself into that. "How are negotiations going?"

"The iPods are a hit. Sgt. Patel has prepared a list of what they'll need for podcast production and filesharing."

Jack accepted it was English but that didn't mean he understood. "Anything else you need--Other than half your team, because Janet's called dibs."

"Everything is in the requisition. Simpsons not on your TIVO?"

"Busy Gate. Gotta go." He nodded at Walter and the Gate shut down. The Gate started turning.

"Getting an IDC. It's Teal'c, sir." Walter opened the iris at O'Neill's nod.

Jack watched the man walk down the ramp, handing over his staff weapon. "Bra'tac's well?"

Teal'c looked up, looking like a statue in his robes. "Indeed." He moved to the door, exited and headed for medical.

Jack caught up with Teal'c. "What do you think of Jarod Kirby?"

Teal'c tilted his head and arched his eyebrow. "He picked up ping pong quickly."

Jack looked at Teal'c. He still couldn't tell when Teal'c was joking. Always. Right now though he didn't think he was. "You taught him ping pong." How could he have never learned ping pong?

"There is a reason for your question."

Nothing got past Teal'c. Not even most idioms anymore. He punched the elevator button and stepped in. He waited for Teal'c to join him and the door to close. "He's not a Marine."

"Would not SG-5 have noticed this?"

Jack looked at Teal'c. Once he was ready to say something the door opened. They both stepped into the corridor. "He's got this skill, he can read his way into being a brain surgeon."

"A most useful aptitude."

"Except when he uses it to infiltrate a secret military project." His secret military project.

"NID?"

"No." Jack relented when he couldn't take the eyebrow. "Blair ran into him while he was portraying a forensic scientist."

"Ellison didn't notice this."

"They're trying to find out why." Jack veered away before he entered the infirmary. He headed to Sandburg's lab, wondering if he'd figured out that question's answer. It wasn't the sort of thing you wanted happening off-world.

He found Sandburg and Daniel both there. Blair's office never ceased to amaze him. It was like stepping into a library forest. Forest in a library? Ivy, spider plant and the other common office plants were joined by bamboo palm and ribbon plant to name a few. A small water fall burbled. "No frog calls?"

"I can turn them on if it means that much to you."

"Sheba says 'hi'." He turned to Daniel. "Any progress?"

"Six years is a long time to try to reconstruct. Don't even think it."

Jack still thought if Daniel and Blair could reconstruct things from hundreds and thousands of years ago, six shouldn't be a big deal. Blair was there. He did keep from sharing.

Blair thought. "Jim was having problems with his senses that whole case. Started after Al showed up, though that doesn't make much sense. It's not like Simon doesn't smoke cigars too." Blair smiled and then chuckled.

"What?" Jack noticed that Daniel was just as confused.

"Oh, nothing. Just something he said after he'd been hit with two tranquilizer darts."

"If you remember it after six years it might be important."

"He was talking about an angel." Blair thought about it. "For all I know he really was seeing one."

Jack allowed it wasn't impossible. "That doesn't explain why he was seeing Sam Beckett at the same time as Jarod. Keep on it." Jack started to leave. "Daniel?"

Daniel turned.

"Are you needed or could you come with me?"

"Um, sure." Daniel gestured that he was leaving before following Jack. "What did you need?"

"What, I can't talk to my teammate? Teal'c got back just now. You and Carter got the next mission picked out?"

"P4R-231 looks interesting. The MALP showed that the Gate is in a large cavern. Don't know much about the world itself. Exiting the cave may require ropes."

That's what they needed instead of so many Tree Worlds. "One of the planets from the Ancient's repository?" Jack smiled when Daniel nodded. He was good.

"Don't think for one moment that I'm unaware that you guessed." "Soundly."

Damn. "Big honking weapons?" Okay, Daniel never said yes to that. Even when it was true. "Inscriptions?" Jack had to double back when he noticed Daniel had veered off. "Trying to lose me?"

"Clearly not hard enough." Daniel slowed then stopped, turning and looking around the hall. "This isn't the time or place."

"Never is." Jack grasped Daniel's far shoulder and started walking in the direction Daniel had been heading. He suspected this had to do with the unannounced haring after Jarod, which he was sure Daniel understood intellectually. That often made it worse, when you knew you were being unreasonable. "Sensible."

Daniel looked at him in confusion. Jack grinned as Daniel figured it out. "What is it that you need to be doing?"

* * *

Sam slid into the chair vacated by the technician. After finding the meeting between Colonel Simmons and Miss Parker they had started a search on Centre and NID ties. She scanned the information on the screen. They had found the word Pocotopaug on Jarod's computer, time-isolating it as an addition within the past six months.

Hammond entered the room. "Major?"

"I've found a Centre project code named 'Eden'.

"I fail to see the urgency, Major."

"Between 1976-1982 the U.S. military provided regular shipments of material to the Centre from a project called 'Attis'. I haven't been able to find what they were delivering, nor any evidence of results. What I did find is that during the same years a Centre project named 'Eden' accepted regular shipments. 'Eden' is still active, and currently it's located in upstate New York, at Pocotopaug."

"Pocotopaug was on Jarod's computer. He scrambled how and when it was placed there, though it's recent, within the past six months. I took the liberty of requesting satellite imagery. It's isolated country so the level of detail is limited. This is what I found."

Hammond looked at the picture of a ruined summer camp. Surrounded by security checkpoints. "That's odd."

"This is the infrared scan." The center of the grounds lit up. "I think we need to find out what Jarod knows."

* * *

"Pocotopaug." Jack watched Jarod on the monitor, noting his reaction. "What's your interest?"

"What's yours?"

"See, the way this works I ask you questions. You answer. It's very simple."

"You're assuming I have an interest."

If he hadn't had visual, Jack might have bought that. Too good by half. "Let's talk about Miss Parker. A real looker. She doesn't keep great company." Jarod didn't say anything, but clearly he was unsettled. "You still running from her?"

Jack let it run but Jarod didn't bite. He had more tricks. Jack turned as the door opened. He cut the intercom. "Blair."

Blair sat down and reached for the button. "Didn't you know Major Ellison and I were here?"

Jarod didn't stand a chance. Jack angled in his chair so he wouldn't miss a nuance from either side.

"Missed that issue." Jarod looked bored.

"And forgot Cascade, Washington? The tourism board is disappointed."

Or grateful, thought Jack.

"Does Dr. Toussaud refresh your recall?"

Jack saw Blair was ruffling Jarod.

"Just how did you know to come to Cascade? We'd only been assigned the dock earlier that day Not that we didn't appreciate the help. Could have done without your old home week."

"He means Miss Parker , Sydney and the rest of the castaways." He hummed the theme song, leaning forward when there was no recognition. "Gilligan's Island?" Jarod _still_ hadn't seen it?! "You do know who the Simpsons are, right?"

"You came because of our casualties."

Jack looked at Blair. "Pocotopaug." He resumed the interrogation.

* * *

General Hammond sat at the head of the briefing room table with Col. O'Neill, Dr. Jackson and Teal'c to his right, Major Ellison and Dr. Sandburg on the left, while Major Carter made her presentation.

"Attis?!" Blair tried to stifle his chuckle and lost.

Jack turned to Daniel, whom he noticed was smiling slightly. "Want to share with the class?"

Blair looked at Sam apologetically.

"This is the facility--" Sam looked between Blair and Daniel. Both were avoiding each other's eyes, while egging the other on. "What's wrong with the code name?"

"Attis was the consort of the Asia Minor goddess Cybele."

"Fertility god." Jack sat up. Daniel had rubbed off on him. Among other things. He smiled.

Hammond looked at Blair valiantly struggling against laughter. "Dr. Sandburg?"

"He cheated on her, she found out and he castrated himself in dejection. A felled conifer became his symbol."

Sam's lips pursed as she restrained her smile. "Eden we all recognize, though its application is questionable. We've found that the project has moved rather frequently, and there was a period during which it was geographically dispersed. That ended in 1990."

General Hammond nodded at Carter, who sat down. "Colonel?"

"I wouldn't wish MacKenzie on anyone." He might just wish Jarod on MacKenzie. "He's functional. Hell, he's exemplary, if he really was a Marine, surgeon, rocket scientist--" Jack cut short his litany. Keep George sweet. "He knows them in a way we couldn't. We need to go in." The Centre had fewer scruples than Mengele, and they as military owed it to every servicemember to retrieve whatever Attis provided.

"I concur. Teal'c, you'll understand why you're not going on this mission."

Teal'c bowed his head.

"Not Daniel or Carter." Jack ignored the heel grind on his foot. "Ellison, I know--"

"We'll go."

Jack nodded. Ellison didn't leave people behind either. "Four. Now we just need to get Jarod on board."

"I've got some ideas on that." Blair stood once he got the General's nod.

* * *

"Jack." Daniel caught Jack assembling his mission pack. Earth-only technology.

Jack turned and got into Daniel's face. "They trade in geniuses. Both you and Carter know things that would make them give up their left and right balls. I'm not taking that chance, and I'll be much more on my game knowing that you are safely exploring P4R-231."

"Jack."

"You could be infiltrating a Gou'ld stronghold and I'd still feel the same way." A bit of bravado, but Jack didn't want Daniel anywhere near the Centre.

"Blair?"

"'Don't spit into the wind.' It's different and you know it." You took your advantages at every opportunity. "You heard Hammond." Jack pulled out the big guns. "Ancients put the Gate on P4R-231. Big cave. Sorry I'm missing the inscriptions. You, frottage. Really." He loved a double-entendre. Too bad there were cameras, Daniel looked ready to throw him against a wall and demonstrate. Rubbing.

Daniel glared and left the room. Jack would pay for that. He tamped down that happy thought and returned to business.

* * *

Carter slipped into the room MacGyver was in, grinning. "Sorry about this taking so long."

"Busy season. Bad time for a visit."

Sam grinned. "Really. Thanks for the help."

"Don't suppose I could get a tour?"

Sam shook her head.

"Didn't think so." He followed her out the door. "Tell Blair to write."

"Not Jack?"

Mac grinned. "Sure." He hooked his thumbs in his pockets. "Who was your instructor? You mentioned being taught--"

"Divergent problem-solving. MacGyverisms." She smiled at his wide-eye. Col. Carroll King."

"Don't know him. Her?"

"Him." Sam guided him through the halls. An airman would take him to Petersen, where a helicopter would fly him back to his cabin.

* * *

Jarod looked up from the interrogation table as Blair entered. "You're not who I expected."

Blair sat down across from the man, whose hands were chained to the table. "How's Sydney?" He waited out Jarod's subtle reactions to the question. "We have met, though I do wonder why you don't remember the meeting. Before we joined the SGC, we lived in Cascade, Washington. Jim was a detective, and got assigned to a mass burial in the bay. You appeared as a very convenient forensic scientist with dive experience. I taught the frogmen excavation techniques.

"Mr. Raines wanted to make Rainier a Centre West, but someone had put out the garbage in the wrong place."

Jarod stared at Blair.

Blair continued. "Just how did you forget all of that? Here's what I've surmised. You got wind of how many people die in deep space telemetry, SFs, Marines, way too many to make sense as guards. You came, you saw, you got caught up. Did Sydney send you Pocotopaug in an e-mail? Was that why you left?

"Do you know a Centre Project 'Eden'? It's been moved to Pocotopaug. Funny thing about 'Eden' is there was a military project 'Attis' funneling material to the Centre at the same time it was receiving material."

"What is Mac?"

Blair was startled by the question. "What?"

"How'd O'Neill get him into position?"

"Coincidence. T here's been a regular flush of it."

"You want something."

Blair smiled. "We each have reasons to disrupt the Centre's research. I don't see a conflict."

Jarod raised his chains and his eyebrow, letting the former pool with a metallic slither.

"Top secret military base. You expect to escape, we expect you to try. Whereas you don't remember Cascade, I figure you want independent confirmation. How can you contact Sydney?" Blair waited for Jarod to take the bait.

And waited. Blair picked uo the thread. "It was a regular reunion. Sydney, Mr. Raines, Miss Parker, numerous goons. Everyone was in Cascade."

"I'll need a computer."

* * *

Jarod hit a key, initiating his call and bouncing his signal around the world. "Miss me?"

"Jarod." Sydney casually assessed who was around and slipped behind his desk.

"Cascade, Washington. Was I there?"

The older man was puzzled by the question. "1997."

"Mr. Raines."

"Yes." He tried to make out any background noise, knowing anything he might hear could be scripted for his, and the Centre's, benefit.

"I want to speak to Miss Parker."

"That's not possible."

"Sydney." Charm and malice joined in his voice.

Curtly Sydney rejoined, "She has other responsibilities."

"How does her garden grow?"

"Sally sells seashells at the seashore." The phone hung up.

Jarod took the wireless headset from his ear. What was Miss Parker's connection to 'Eden'? Sydney's voice implied he thought Jarod's questions were signs requiring countersigns. It suggested Blair was telling the truth, raising the questions of why he couldn't remember and why Ellison hadn't recognized him.

He'd forgotten other things. It still struck him as odd that the Centre had permitted Mr. Raines to induce clinical death on a pedigree subject. Ellison would bear watching.

* * *

Carter answered her phone, nodding an apology to Mac, who was sitting in her passenger seat. "Carter. Yes, sir, I'm approaching Petersen right now." She listened for a moment. "Understood." She closed the phone, then smoothly 180°ed, driving back to the base. "Mac, that was General Hammond. Jarod wants proof that you're not part of a government conspiracy."

"Pointing out that you can't prove a negative wouldn't be helpful, would it?"

Sam chuckled. "The General will brief you, but Jarod's concerned that you're a clone."

Naturally. Mac had managed to learn that Jarod was a Marine, or rather was supposed to be a Marine. No wonder the 2IC and the local Sentinel had gone after him. "Think someone could return the Jeep from the cabin?" He wasn't expecting all of this to wrap up quickly. On the one hand, he suspected he'd learn more about what was happening under the Mountain. He didn't figure the other hand would be too happy about that state of affairs. Mac thought about the oddly shaped ray gun. Maybe clones weren't so far fetched in their world.

Quickly he was back at Cheyenne, this time riding down not one but two elevators. He noticed the SF aborting a salute at the last moment. Seemed good news traveled fast. Not that he really snuck into top secret military bases without an invitation. Any more.

The General met them in the hall. "I'm sorry we didn't keep our promise. Jarod is an unusual case." Hammond returned the salute of an oncoming airman before directing Mac into the briefing room.

Mac looked at the blast door. "Things get explosive around here?" If the rumble wasn't on the other side--

"I don't need to explain to you national security. Your clearances are in order, as you know we're aware. What I do need to explain is why I've asked you to return. My men are going to be working with Jarod, retrieving vital materials. He's--"

"Concerned that I'm a clone. Now, no offense, but it seems to me this is something he's not the first to consider as a possibility. Which, suggests to me that it's a valid question, and the last I knew that wasn't even on the horizon for another-- last Thursday? I could ask you a lot of questions, which you won't answer, but how about we stick to what Jarod will take as proof?"

The general nodded and Mac turned.

"Jack."

"We just love you so much, we won't let you leave." Jack went over to the coffee carafe and poured himself a cup.

"Sorry, Mac." Blair entered the room, noticed the muffins and beelined for them. Jim took a seat, regarding Mac.

"This retrieval is important." He wasn't entirely surprised at who would be running Jarod. After all, an ersatz Marine being run at all suggested high stakes. He had however determined that Jim and Blair didn't normally operate with Jack. There were a few ways he could take that, but his gut told him that Daniel and Carter were Jack's teammates. Neither of whom were here. He wasn't sure what sort of team needed Special Ops and archaeology. He turned from his reverie to the door.

Jarod looked him, Jack, and then both of them over.

"Family resemblance." Mac thought Jarod was convincing himself of the differences.

Jarod sat down across from Blair.

Jack took a chair between Blair and Mac. Jim put himself between Jarod and Hammond.

Jarod looked around, then started speaking. "There have been a number of projects by the Centre and others interested in 'maximizing' human abilities. The Centre has been making alliances to give them access to the other projects, consolidating technology and research. 'Eden' could be anywhere on that continuum."

"What sort of technology?" Jack questioned.

"Artificial wombs. Human cloning. Genetic resequencing. Accelerated development."

The assembled men considered the words.

"Sounds like you're going to need help." Mac opined.

Jack turned to Mac.

"Limited intel, information and material to retrieve or destroy. Sounds like my sort of work."

"You're retired!"

Hammond looked over at Jack. "Do you have a problem working with MacGyver?"

"Sir." Jack looked at the assembled men. "Could I have a word with you?"

The general stood and headed to the carafe, Jack pushing up from the table at the movement.

"He's not military, not active with Phoenix or DSX, and this mission is going to be hairy. Mac won't carry a gun. I can't work with that."

"Need I remind you of Colonel Grieves and Lieutenant Kershaw?"

"I expected them to cause me problems."

"Do you have a problem with arming Jarod?"

Jack inhaled and blew out. "No." He was wary as he answered.

"Then I acknowledge, and overrule your objection. His track record is sufficient demonstration." Hammond looked at Jack.

Jack nodded and headed back to the table.

"That's a generous offer." Hammond pulled back to the table. "You retired from fieldwork almost a decade ago. This won't be a sanctioned operation."

"I understand that, sir. I've kept active and I wouldn't offer if I thought myself a liability. All I ask is the deal I had with Pete."

Jack looked from Mac to the general. Deal? Hammond weighed the request. What deal?

"Done. Colonel, you're in charge. Officially, you, Ellison and Sandburg are on vacation. Prepare accordingly; transportation will be available to the insertion point. Dismissed. Good luck."

* * *

Hammond looked down from the control room onto SG-1. "Major Carter, you have a go."

Carter acknowledged the General and nodded at her team before stepping through the Gate followed by Lt. Shaw, Teal'c and Daniel bringing up the rear. On the other side she looked at the stalactites and stalagmites filling the glowing cavern. "The MALP didn't show us this." It had been a prosaic cave in the transmission, not a fairy grotto. Threat-assessing the area until she was confident there wasn't an ambush she left the platform and passed the whoosh carved pillars of mineral deposits.

Daniel looked around and then followed Sam. "Volcanic bubble?"

Sam smiled. "With sedimentation." Having reached one of the glowing patches she pulled out a specimen vial and carefully scraped a sample into it before labeling it. "Either the Gate has been in exactly that position for a very long time, or someone has teleportation technology." She stowed the vial and moved back towards one of the Gate-shaped stalagmites.

Daniel noticed the figure in the distance, signalling to Teal'c before starting a cautious approach. From the distance he couldn't tell much but the being was focused on something on the ground. The individual brought something out and Daniel tensed until he saw the mat rolled out and the person kneel. Daniel neared and could make out that the alien was bald and wore only a sarong, though he couldn't tell if the pale markings running down the back from the scalp were natural or adornment.

He'd come close enough to discern small pert breasts when she drew one arm across her front and slumped forward. He ran and dropped to the ground as he called, "Sam! Teal'c!" Daniel shrugged out of his backpack to find something to staunch the wound.

She was balanced at the edge of the pool when he turned back, and he grasped her by the shoulders to pull her away. She struggled and reached into the warm mud, pulling out a grub the size of two fists, and pressed it against her wound before he could stop her. It wriggled inside as he watched. He released her shoulders and scrambled back as he trained his Beretta on her.

"Daniel?" Sam pointed her P-90 at the alien, the tang of blood strong. "What's happening?" She watched the woman unfold her legs and lie back, clutching something to her stomach. The ridges that served as a nose flared. Sam spared a wary glance to Daniel to assure herself he was okay. "Daniel?" Only the nose, or lack of one, and a similar grooving at the side of the head visibly distinguished the alien as not human.

He swallowed and stood, not letting his sidearm waiver. "She cut herself and-- took something out of there." Daniel nodded at the pit. He caught movement in his peripheral vision. "It went inside." He tensed as the alien's eyes opened.

"You're not the caretakers." She grimaced, breathed, looked at them again. "What have you done with them?"

"Caretakers?" Sam looked at the blood seeping past the woman's hand. "Daniel, get a dressing out of your pack." She listened to the rustling while she tried to judge the wound. She saw the blade, a sliver of obsidian, barely wet. "What was it?"

Daniel extended the sealed medpak, careful should the woman lunge. "Pale, about the size of a liver. Maybe legs at the front."

"Rjoshnari."

Sam tried processing the concurrent speech. "Rjoshnari?"

"We must find the caretakers." The woman tried to gain her feet.

"I do not believe that is wise." Teal'c joined them. "Who are these 'Caretakers'?"

Sam backed away to close with Shaw.

"The Old Way is a ritual, to focus the initiate. I should have been met by a caretaker, told that I would not need my blade."

"How do you know this now?"

She smiled. "The Joining is successful, if more painful. Few remain from before the Caretakers. I don't know how accurately the Old Way has been preserved. How did you get here? What did you do to the Caretakers?"

* * *

Sam looked at the tunnel, then Shaw, before catching Teal'c's attention. While she was inclined not to consider the injured woman a threat, she would proceed with caution. Finding the caretakers was the first step. She started down the corridor.

Sam and Shaw covered each other down the tunnel until they reached a door. "Daniel, what's your situation?"

"I'd say she's going into shock. I'm not sure if our meds would help or--"

"Daniel, I've got a door with some writing. Maybe the Caretakers are someone we know." She smiled when he acknowledged her request. Soon he was with them, looking at the door and walls.

"No."

"No?"

"This is unlike anything we've found. However," Daniel pressed his fingertips against the wall beside the door. "I think we can take a look around."

Sam shook her head. "Did you find out anything more?" She stepped around Daniel, securing the room before stepping into the center, causing the lights to come on.

"She's lost consciousness. It's supposed to be an honor to be Chosen." Daniel looked around, trying to make sense of anything.

A door slid open next to Lt. Shaw and a mummified corpse tipped forward. He caught it and eased it back, still holding on.

"Is, am I imagining?" Sam couldn't believe, not with the Colonel missing this-

Daniel looked in, relieving Lt. Shaw. After several moments he shared his findings. "Yes. He or she died on the toilet." Carefully he removed his hands and stepped back, letting the door close.

"Anything more about the Rjoshnari?" Sam searched for anything that might reasonably be a healing device. "Or what we're looking for?"

"Long lived, retain the memories of their hosts." Daniel pulled a flat box out of a drawer and exited the room.

Sam followed. There'd be time to talk once they'd done everything for the alien woman they could. Teal'c looked up from the thermal blanket-swathed form. He was concerned. Daniel knelt beside her and opened the box.

"I need you to help me help you." He looked at the contents, hoping he was even right in thinking this was a medikit.

She tapped at one of the devices, nodded when he asked if she was sure. Daniel gripped the device and found the on, then had to turn it back off and reset it. He repaired the small nick and then moved the device over the gash.

She writhed, tapping at the box. Sam saw several clips and she attached one to the woman's neck, and one on either side of the wound Daniel was closing. The alien opened her eyes, watching her flesh knit together. "Where did you come from? How did you get here? The Caretaker--"

"Was there just the one?" Daniel didn't want to explain the body they'd found yet. "Through the Chappa'i. The stone circle." There was no recognition. "We're explorers. Some know us as Tau'ri, but we call our planet Earth."

"Was the Caretaker one of yours? That you came back alone says the Caretaker is gone."

"For some time." Even allowing for the ventilation system, the desiccation would have taken months. "How often is the Caretaker seen? How long has there been a Caretaker?" He shut off the device, the wound gone but for a faintly shinier line.

She checked the wound and briefly closed her eyes before kneeling and then standing, rolling up the mat. "I must check the pools, then we will return so you may speak with the Elders."

* * *

Sam looked up from her equipment by the edge of one of the pools. She still had yet to see one of the symbiotes, though the mud had become more active after they had cast flakes over the surface and sprayed the pools. The temperature of the mud was warm, likely within a few degrees of the hosts' blood, unlike the cave itself. Aihleana had explained that as the nutrients dwindled and the mud gelled the symbiotes drowsed, much as humans did when oxygen deprived.

This wasn't the symbiotes' natural habitat. She wondered about that. "Aihleana, how long has there been a Caretaker?"

Aihleana turned from Lt. Shaw. "I'll take you to the Elders. They will have much to decide." She beckoned to Daniel and Teal'c. "This way."

She led them into a smaller alcove of the main cavern, where a rope ladder hung from the ceiling. She looked at Teal'c, concerned. "It may be a tight fit."

Sam spoke. "Shaw, take point. Daniel, you follow Aihleana. I'll be right behind you."

While they did have a few close moments, Teal'c made it out of the cave system.

Daniel stopped abruptly in front of Sam.

"Daniel?"

He stepped to one side, and Carter looked out at the panorama of lush mountains and a tall waterfall. "It's beautiful."

Aihleana led them down a winding path that brought them within the spray from the falls, by which time it was a welcome respite from the heat. They walked another forty minutes.

"I see the city." Lt. Shaw stepped to one side so the others could look, the buildings forming artifical cliffs, complete with rope bridges between the more widely-spaced 'peaks'. They closed the intervening space quickly.

"You'll want to wash." Aihleana looked at their clothes, then directed them inside. "Loeu, see to these guests, they'll be speaking to the elders." She grabbed a key from the pegboard.

Loeu stepped around the counter, his sarong shorter and brighter than Aiheana's. He unlocked a door ushering them in. There was a trough in the center of the room, a cascade of water at one end and a stack of bowls by the door.

* * *

Jack looked over his 'team' as they closed on the edge of the summer camp. He was glad there had been dark paperclips in the handful he'd scooped from Carter's desk. Too bad his 'receiver' wouldn't work, damn 'experimental' equipment. They'd have to depend on Jim's senses, they couldn't risk radio being picked up.

Blair and Jim were known quantities. He didn't have the intuitive bond with them he did with SG-1, but they'd stick to the objective. Jarod... Jack hoped nothing in the way of old scores or tainted allegiances showed or this would go up faster than an acetate nightie. Never trust the intel of an ex-pat. Mac, however, was something else.

He'd refused any guns, but had happily taken C4 and detonators sufficient to take out a Gou'ld ship's worth of doors. At least he wasn't insisting on going in empty handed; Jack had seen the wire, tape and other oddments go into vest and other pockets.

Technically, they were supposed to retrieve any equipment beyond known ken. Jack had his own armory of C4. While he was all for honking spaceguns, he was willing to accept the Tollans had been right about a few things. Humans did tend to do anything they could, just because, without considering if they should. In, locate, isolate, incinerate and vacate.

They split into three 'teams', Jarod and him, Jim and Blair, with Mac by himself.

* * *

Jack was lucky to miss this part. Sam shifted slightly in her kneel, tailor-style sitting being gauche on P4R-231. Currently they were waiting for the Elders to digest their and Aihleana's reports. She wondered what insights Daniel had made. That the Elders were all female wasn't lost on her. They didn't look particularly old, but who could really tell? She kept flip-flopping on their markings, natural or art. They could even be both.

"We know little of the Ring. Only those seeking 'Joining' venture into the cave system."

Daniel turned the statement into an opening. "How long had the Caretaker been in the cave?"

She smiled. "It is fortunate that you came when you did. Generations have come and gone since the Old Way ceased. Perhaps this was true for the Caretaker as well."

"Had the Rjoshnari been in the cave before the Caretakers?"

The elder looked at her colleagues. Another of their number nodded at Aihleana.

"I'll show you around our city." She stood smoothly.

Sam got up from her crouch as did the rest of the team. Daniel had hit a nerve.

* * *

Mac slipped in among the vehicles. One thing that any good plan needed was a safe way out. A lot of unhappy people chasing you firing weapons could really ruin your day. Not to mention your life and the mission if they hit you. So, he wanted to make sure that there'd be some, distractions, should anyone try riding after them.

He looked about a bit and smiled. Lug nut wrench. That'd take care of the first few trucks. Unfortunately eighteen lug nuts loosened on each truck multiplied by the number of same took a fair amount of time. Skinned knuckles, and a few rounds of hide-and-go-seek meets shell game as well. It reminded him of two things. Why he'd done this sort of thing for so long, and why he didn't do it very often any more.

Done, he calculated a bit and then headed to the cars. Jimmying, releasing the hood latch and connecting the starter wire to some C4 was faster than making a sandwich. He ducked down, made sure he hadn't been seen, then made his way to the next car.

* * *

Jim and Blair picked their way into the compound. The plan was simple, the only sort that worked. They would reconnoiter and leave trail signs, settle on their first target, and wait for Jack's move. The only research they'd keep was what was supposed to be achieved, and if there were any other spots to clean up.

Jim signed that the buildings had a number of sublevels. The plan had met the enemy. Blair offered that they do what they could from the outside, leave Jack signs, then go in.

Jim nodded. It wouldn't surprise the Colonel, it was the reasonable thing to do. He looked at Blair, drinking him in. There were technicians inside, people of uncertain responsibility, and some of them would die. Jim would kill them.

He started in, Blair following him as he always did. He'd, long ago, tried to protect Blair from this side of himself. Knowing and seeing were different things. He let that fear slide away as the mission took primacy in his reactions. Jim held onto his trust of Blair.

* * *

Jack realized that the facility was two separate wholes. The guards never went into the interior, instead patrolling a zone around it. His target, as he was the one that could be heard, would be inside the second part.

He scanned about, noticing the patterned nature of the fallen twigs several yards over. Ellison had refined the system, making every message look like it had naturally formed, and also allowing a good detail of numbers, capacity and time. What Jack read once he was on top of it didn't please him. Jack turned to getting inside.

* * *

Sam looked over at Daniel. Aihleana had been showing them the city, which Sam considered to be of Industrial Revolution Age technology, for several hours. She couldn't lay her finger on what was wrong, but something was.

"It's powered by thermal vents?"

"Yes. We've armatures of wire that are spun at high speeds by the boiling water. It powers all of our machines."

They stood in a large factory, carding, spinning, weaving and cutting processes all happening on an open floor. Three staggered tiers of balconies ran up the walls. Light shone from the ceiling roughly 30 feet up, and from the open 'windows' along one stretch of wall. This was the 'inside' of one of the massive buildings, homes and shops built around and over the factory.

"They're quiet." Daniel spoke at regular volume despite the whirling activity. It was like a weekend morning of mowers from the next block over.

Aihleana looked at him oddly. "Does the Ring go to many places?"

"Yes."

"I know of no others coming through. Not in this, nor other lifetimes, or from any accounts."

Sam caught Daniel's reaction to Aihleana's words, subtle though it was. He didn't react this way to the Tok'ra.

"We found this address, one of billions possible, on a list. Not everyone has that list."

"What sort of a list? Why do you have the list now?"

"The Ring is very old. They've been left all over the galaxy, their makers gone for eons. We're very curious."

"You and the Elders are not so different." Aihleana smiled and led them on.

SG-1 looked at each other, Lt. Shaw shrugging his shoulders.

* * *

Jim stood at the door while Blair typed on the computer. So far they'd been fortunate, able to slip around the guards, and not running into anyone else. Jim knew it wasn't as simple as most everyone being asleep. A good number of people were awake.

Blair looked at the computer, aggravated that it was again asking for a password. He'd already used the ones he'd found under the keyboard. Could... He tried them again, and the second one took. He watched the data scroll by, seeking patterns. "DNA."

Jim turned, seeing Blair attach the thumbdrive to the computer. The programming on the little drive would dig through every directory and copy file upon file within minutes. It could do this even without an operator noticing it working, and Blair kept typing.

"How many are here?" Blair said it faintly, more than loud enough for Jim to hear.

Jim listened more concertedly, stretching . "Children." They sounded different, even when they didn't speak. He looked at Blair.

Blair nodded. He'd found a registry, a breeding log. Attis made terrible, sick sense now as a code name. The few, the proud... Blair shook his head. Be all you can be. He squelched the thought. Aim high. He closed his eyes, willing away any more advertising slogans. Blair looked at Jim, knowing Uncle Sam was procuring for the Centre during his years of service.

They'd have to take them with them. Jim listened, trying to isolate them, hoping they were all together. They weren't, and there were about fifteen of them. It wouldn't be easy getting that many out. It wasn't negotiable. They'd have to time it carefully.

"1976." Blair realized that Jim was close to a zone. "Children here?!" He watched Jim nod, knowing he would. "Shit." He reined himself in. No doubts. "How do we let Jack know?" They needed a plan. "How many?"

"Twenty. Maybe."

"Plus any older kids."

Jim looked at Blair. "Older--"

"1976." They'd never made any tests regarding how well Jim could judge age by sound. Child soldiers made Blair loathe to quantify too much.

Jim closed his eyes. "I won't be able to pick them all out."

Blair knew that. Just as he knew Jim wouldn't like leaving anyone behind. Neither did he. They could only do their best. "Where do we start?"

"You've got everything?"

"Yes." He'd already attached the second thumbdrive, the one with a virulent overwrite program. It downloaded quickly. Blair pulled it free. He waited as Jim checked the hall, following as he slipped out the door. They went deeper.

* * *

Jack knew something was wrong as he grabbed her, and shifted to a gagging hold instead of a neck-snap. A girl. Shit. His captive was, twelve? Certainly younger than Cassie had been in years. She didn't struggle, and it wasn't the tense stillness of fear. She didn't even bite. He didn't take his hand off her mouth, but did put her down and turn her out of the body hold.

"There's not much time."

Jack spun, wondering how the woman had snuck up on him. He looked for Jarod, finding that he wasn't in the hall. She was good looking, her dark hair cut in a pageboy. He realized she was dressed much as the girl. Same hair style. "Who are you?"

She didn't answer, instead walking down the hallway. Jack only half-realized the girl had slipped down another hall. He followed the woman.

What he found shocked him. There were six children, all less than ten years old, little girls. Again, pageboys, mock turtlenecks, capris. Two were blonde, but they all had roughly the same shaped face. So much for search and destroy. He dashed out of the room when he heard a crash.

Jarod looked at the lab in a rage, banks of liquid nitrogen storage and a stirruped table making matters obvious. Eden apparently continued from where Mirage left off; Sydney's comment about Miss Parker made more sense now. He lashed out at the in vitro cart. He expected Mr. Raines was involved but Mr. Parker had to have given authorization for the repeated abduction of his daughter. He grabbed an instrument table, hefting it to swing.

Jack jumped Jarod, locking his arms around him forcing him to drop the table. The man struggled hard, until he apparently also saw the girls standing before him. Jack noticed these girls were older, more of an age of his original captive. "We're going to end up with company because of your antics." He let Jarod go so he could do his job.

First. He knelt down to the level of the girls. "How many of you are there?"

* * *

Mac hung onto the undercarriage of a truck. The guards had gotten very active all of a sudden, which made him suspect they'd found someone, or at the very least noticed the activities of the others. It was hard to see under a truck well without kneeling down and guards as a rule didn't like crouching.

Unfortunately, it wasn't the easiest place to hang. He'd been forced by lack of cover, but he'd expected only a cursory search not extended hiding. He tried to quietly find a new leverage hold. He lost the struggle, foot dropping at just the wrong moment. He was pulled from under the truck. He struggled and one of his captors knocked him out. They dragged him toward one of the buildings.

* * *

Sam realized they were being followed. The man wasn't being especially stealthy, just trailing along at a distance. Aihleana had to see him. Sam kept track of him without telegraphing her recognition.

They continued their tour for about another hour. Sam noticed that the man was now less obvious, just as they were getting further away from other people. She looked over at Teal'c and he nodded in his nearly imperceptible way.

The man bounded into the clearing and Aihleana grappled with him. "Neuawt." She snuffled at his ear before turning back to the group. "This is Neuawt. I apologize for the distraction." He rubbed the back of his hand against hers, looking at them briefly before snuffling at Aihleana's ear.

Aihleana put her hand up to shelter her ear. Neuawt gave up, and she cautiously lowered her hand. She looked at him. "Follow if you want. Just behave."

Sam watched as Neuawt slipped towards the back of their party, in a place where he could still see Aihleana. With some effort Sam kept from smiling. She hoped the Elders would allow their host some 'quality time' soon.

She also wanted to confer with Daniel, find out his assessment of the locals' culture. The Elders were hiding something, their tour clearly keeping them busy. What they weren't hiding was that everywhere they went men were in the minority. She wondered if the men were concentrated in military or other enterprises they wished to hide. Something made her feel that wasn't the answer, but Sam wasn't sure just what, which made her question that impression.

* * *

The guards entered the room dragging their prisoner between them. They dropped him, letting him pitch forward. The man standing in the room turned and looked down.

"That must have hurt, Jack. I know you're conscious." He smiled as the man looked up from the floor. "You're good, but the flinch gave it away. Why've you come?"

"What'd they offer you?"

"Besides my freedom? The usual. Now the pay is better."

"Figures." He winced as his watch cap was pulled off.

"You're getting old. Is your way working? No?" He scowled when his captive didn't respond. He pulled out plastic restraints and bound the prisoners's hands behind him, cinching them tight. A pleased smile formed. He nodded at another guard and his prisoner was dragged into an empty corner. He put the facility onto full alert.

* * *

Jim flattened back against a wall, sweeping Blair beside him. He gripped his signals on Blair's arm. Someone was going to intersect with them.

"I won't hurt you."

Jim was surprised by the statement, as was Blair. Something about the voice... He signed Blair to stay in reserve and eased forward. Once he made some distance, Jim walked into the center of the hall and nonchalantly walked to the voice.

Until he realized she was a girl. Eleven? Dark hair, fair skin, blue eyes, dressed trimly. "How'd you know I was here?"

"Your friend can come out too."

Blair, naturally, did just that instead of booking for reinforcements. Jim internally rolled his eyes at that thought.

"My name's Blair. He's Jim."

She turned on her heel and walked down the hall.

Jim widened his senses, wondering if this was a trap.

Blair swung around Jim, nearing the girl. "And your name?"

"There's a lot to do and not much time."

Blair looked back at Jim.

Jim was just as in the dark. They followed.

It cleared some when they entered a room being dismantled, a tranquilizer gun trained on them just over the height of the girl. Cryogenic storage. "What are you doing?"

She lowered the trank gun. "They'd start over. We're all leaving."

Blair looked at the girls, for only a few in the room were even very young women. That they all reminded him of Miss Parker hit him at once. "How many of you are there?"

Jim fell into working, letting himself be directed in hefting equipment down and onto carts. One of the girls was directing traffic, tapping teams with laden carts to roll. She seemed young for the task, but then she was too small to load. He listened to Blair, still talking even as he took instruction too. Jack and Jarod had been here earlier, before splitting up. Jarod had been sent to secure the nursery while Jack went to check up on Mac.

Jim turned and stared at one of the girls. He'd been idly separating the sisters full from half. His jaw went slack as his senses ganged up on him. He lowered the thermos gently as the small hand pushed his.

Elfin, her eyes were pale blue, with the blonde hair of an eventual brunette. "How old are you?"

"My name's Pamela."

Jim looked around the room, desperate for another answer. He found Blair's eyes, full of knowledge and compassion. He turned back to his daughter.

"I'm seven."

Jim threw himself back into the job at hand, his mind only skittering around questions unborn. "Nursery?" He looked at the woman that had greeted them with the tranquilizer gun. She had to be about thirteen years older than her sister. Brunette with the same haircut, similar outfit. Same blue eyes. He held them, knowing and wishing otherwise.

She nodded.

Jim looked at Blair, wanting some sort of explanation. Something other than that he was responsible for a Sentinel being raised in captivity. Two daughters in captivity.

Blair didn't have an answer for Jim.

* * *

Sam had requested strongly that they be allowed to rest and then speak again with the Elders. She'd have thought Aihleana would have been happier to have a chance to be alone with Neuawt. Neuawt however was very appreciative, snuffling Aihlena's ears as they left. "Daniel."

"Yes?"

"I think they're hiding something. I've considered a military complex, but somehow that doesn't sit right."

"Ah, you noticed that too. I don't have an explanation for why there are so few men. Most of our experience is with basically human populations. There are too many variables to conjecture. There may simply be fewer males born."

Sam tilted her head. While they had seen gatherings of children, it wasn't as if they could tell their sexes. She moved Daniel a bit to one side, taking advantage of geek talk to bore even the above average Marine. "Talk to me about your reaction to Aihleana taking a symbiote."

"Reaction?"

"You've been pretty lukewarm to her. That's not like you." She watched him consider gambits, realizing he'd gotten just as used to dealing with Jack, as she'd gotten to leaving him to the Colonel. She promised herself to work on their relationship. Now, a page from the Colonel's playbook... "I'd say you had a thing against symbiotes, but you're fine with Tok'ra."

"She sliced herself open!" Daniel realized how much louder he'd said that than he'd meant. He pulled himself together. "It's not the same thing."

"I'd think you'd have more problems with the Tok'ra." She'd been horrified when he'd strafed the Gou'ld tank of young their first trip back to Chulak since Sha're had been taken. By the time she'd had with Jolinar he'd been the sympathetic man she expected.

"I understand their hosts' motivations better."

She nodded. Her father had been dying of cancer when they found the Tok'ra base. "It's something I want to get from the Elders." Sam nodded towards the group and headed back to them.

* * *

Jarod was in the middle of the group of teens and tweens as they went down the halls to the Nursery. He spared a stray thought to where Miss Parker was. He'd already seen over a dozen girls, each reminding him of their mother. Just as he wondered what had happened to the guards, one of the girls pressed against his chest while bringing a finger to her lips. The guard passed the corridor never seeing them in the shadows.

The Centre hadn't gotten any better at controlling children. Jarod smiled.

Several more close calls with increasingly agitated guards made him question how the girls knew which halls to take to avoid them. They couldn't be recalling patterns, not now. Jarod looked down at his sleeve being pulled. Unlike the other doors with punch pads, this one only had a cardreader. He bent down to work, vaguely aware as the girls scattered.

Jarod stood once he bypassed the reader, realizing not all of the girls had scattered. She looked at him, then turned the knob and pushed the door open. He followed into the dark room. Inside there were wall-mounted cribs and low toddler beds.

Whistle.

Jarod turned to the girl, and then at the motion at the back of the room. Two young girls rolled out of bed, dressed. As if cued, the other girls filed in to be assigned charges. He watched as sleepy toddlers were fitted with little packs, and girls wrapped slings around themselves and scooped up sleeping babes. They had trebled their number in three minutes and were ready to go, beds stage managed. One of the girls pointed at what he found to be packages of diapers wrapped in a cargo net. Jarod grabbed the unwieldy burden and they headed out.

* * *

The man looked down the short hall within the headquarters for the outer perimeter. Options for staging the rescue were few; he'd have to play it by ear. He adjusted the hang of the P-90 strapped to his chest and broke into a jog. Surprise really was the only card he held at the moment.

It wasn't enough. He stopped on seeing his cousin with a pistol held to his head. He kept his cousin's captor targeted, taking satisfaction when the man registered what he was seeing.

"Now, this is interesting. Jack, honestly, one of you is too many, yet there's always _another_ one of you showing up." He didn't take his eyes off the newest addition, but addressed his words to both men.

"Yathink?!" He was disappointed when his 'host' didn't lash out. He did notice the desire restrained. He needed to break his control.

"Can I help that people recognize quality?" He'd noticed his cousin had affected Makepeace. "Or the opposite, in your case."

"I was willing to do what was needed. We thought you were too."

"Do you have any idea how many allies we've lost from the actions of your 'true believers?" It was a thin line between annoying Makepeace and pushing him to fire.

His cousin picked it up, from his knees. "You can't expect to take what you want and word not to get around. Didn't you learn from Ollie?"

Makepeace didn't waiver. "Same could be said of you. They were good men and women, doing their duty."

He tried again, not caring for the gun to his head. "Rogues. I was doing my duty. We need allies, not cowboys doing it their way against orders."

"Jack, from you---"

Makepeace was silenced by three shots. His captive lunged away, lashing at Makepeace's gun with his feet. The standing man hurried to secure Makepeace. He shook his head at his cousin, noticing he'd cut the plastic tie. "You know, he really hates me." He started searching Makepeace, pulling off weapons.

"You do seem to have that effect." He quickly worked to apply bandages to his previous captor.

Makepeace looked between them, confusion edging out over pain. He'd already been gagged.

"Three shots?"

Jack shrugged. "He used to be a colonel. We need him for questioning." The regret at the later was clear in his voice.

Makepeace scowled at his former captive.

"Not Jack." He smiled widely. MacGyver looked over the room for any useful materials. Mac pocketed some tools, more plastic ties and a roll of duct tape. "Target destroyed?"

Jack looked at Mac. "We've got complications."

* * *

Sam leaned back, eyes open for delicacies she'd like more of, while listening to Daniel pump the Elders for information on the symbiotes. Just having Daniel back to listen to was wondrous, but here he was in his element.

Their mineral survey hadn't picked up more than trace amounts of naquadah and technologically the natives didn't have anything to offer either. She'd recommend including the planet on the research roster for botanical and xenological reasons. Despite their interactions with Orlin, Oma and Ayiana they knew very little about the Ancients. She thought a moment, admitting that maybe that 'despite' should be 'because'. Had these people even existed when the Gate had been installed?

The Caretaker however was an issue for them as a first contact team. Unknown language, higher technology, relationship to the natives. The last made finding more out, delicate.

"Emiwna was the first to Join, after falling from a cliff?" Daniel had paid close attention to a recounting of Hosts as arranged by their symbiotes. Aihleana's was apparently of middle age, given the number of hosts it had had. He expected the young and old had been especially affected by the unfavorable conditions in the untended pool.

"Wounded, Emiwna struggled to return via the long path. She fell into shallow water, fearing she would drown unable to remember Haiyeo. The First found Emiwna wounded, healing her. Emiwna remembered Haiyeo for years after that, her children and children's children numerous."

"And what of the First, after the Joining?" Daniel was scrupulous in keeping his revulsion to himself. He could still see the glistening grub in Aihleana's hand. So far he'd seen nothing that revealed who had and who had not Joined.

"The First was most confused, warm in the dark. The First was full though it didn't feed. The First was trapped, the thrub of Emiwna's heart its company. The thrub was joined by a dubdub. Time passed for the First, time without spawning. Dubdub went and came, the First learning its environment, ebb and flow."

Daniel was drawn into the symbiote's perspective. From what he'd seen they didn't have eyes; their hearing was likely an extension of touch. How different must their consciousness be?

"Slowly the First learned patterns besides the thrub and the dubdubs. These patterns were complex, ugly initially. Emiwna and First learned of the other. All Joinings stem from the First."

Daniel thought for a moment and then asked, "How did the Old Way come into being?"

The Elders looked at each other, and just as Daniel was thinking he'd stepped in it, they nodded and one answered. "After the First and Emiwna Joined, grievous wounds were treated by immersion in shallow water. Emiwna's grandsons were remembered before Iolani Joined. She took Pynant after Joining. The Old Way started with Osaeni."

Daniel had more questions than he'd started with. He decided this wasn't the moment to ask them. "And the Old Way ended with the arrival of the Caretaker?"

"Not immediately. Eventually. It's been many years. Aihleana was most fortunate you were able to save them. Weakened as it was, the Rjoshnari would have died too."

He hoped the next wasn't pushing his luck. "The cave seems to put the Rjoshnari at a disadvantage." One alien dying on the toilet could have decimated everything in those pools. "We could offer sensors, something that would give a warning that there is a problem." Daniel looked towards Sam.

"We'd be happy to."

* * *

Dragging an uncooperative prisoner while avoiding guards was a bitch. Jack realized years of hot and cold running zats had made him complacent. At this rate he'd shoot Makepeace again.

He'd been surprised, and pleased, when he'd found that the girls had already planned on retrieving the wee kids. Maybe he should've had qualms after Jarod's rage about him going on the extraction. His gut told him it'd be okay.

Forty-eight children. He jerked Makepeace after an attempted headbutt, seriously wishing he'd killed the man where he'd found him. He'd escaped once, and Jack didn't have the utmost confidence Makepeace would stay put this time.

Mac crouched low while guards swept through again. He looked back to where he knew Jack was holding Makepeace. Mac took in his surroundings, assessing options. Despite having been caught once and getting away, he didn't expect his knack for trouble had been expended. Not to mention that the guards were on high alert. Eventually they'd notice their 'colonel' had been taken. Just what did that rumble have to do with allies? Mac waved Jack towards the next place that could shelter two.

They needed a few distractions.

\--

Blair watched Jim as they slipped from one staging area to the next, physically checking up on each cluster of girls. He wondered how the camera system had been set up with so many blindspots. If this was the Centre's standard, no wonder Jarod had been able to run away.

Jim worried him. Each time he recognized another daughter, Blair could feel Jim breaking a bit more inside. Icing over. Efficient, focused and cold. Never had the tribe been so literal. Blair could feel the self-castigation for 'leaving behind' children he'd not known anything about.

Anger would come later. Blair watched Jim tilt his head slightly while continuing to move forward. He was confused by Jim's mixed body language until he could hear Jack, pretending to be speaking into a paperclip.

"There you are." Jack looked at Jim and Blair, then down at the paperclip and back up. "Is this thing working at all?"

Blair fought smiling at Jack's cut up. It didn't do to encourage him, and Mac didn't miss much.

"I could hear you." Jim looked at Mac and at the absence "What did you do with him?"

"Stuffed him in a closet." Jack smiled then turned serious. "How are things?"

"They're ready, we just need a way out." Jim relayed where the girls were positioned.

"Some complications." Mac looked at his cousin, who only shrugged. "There are enough personnel carriers, but the girls will have to get to them." Once they started engines they'd only have seconds before guards would be on them.

* * *

Daniel lay down into the hammock, rubbing his knees once he was in. "I'm missing something."

Sam looked over at him. "Talk to me." With Jack dealing with on-world matters, she took a page from his playbook.

"It's their history." Daniel shifted up in the hammock. "Did you notice how much 'remembering' there was?"

"Yeah. Very Old Testament."

Daniel stared at Sam, then slipped out of his hammock.

"What?" Sam followed Daniel, nodding to Teal'c and Lt. Shaw as she left their quarters. "Daniel?"

He turned. "Remembered. Almost all of the hosts have been women. Which could be because most of their population is women..."

"You don't think it is."

"Not initially."

Sam followed Daniel, thinking to catch up with his implications. He stopped to find out where Aihleana could be found.

"Are you sure this is the right time?"

Daniel turned, confused.

Sam fought most of her smile back. "I expect she and Neuawt are getting reacquainted." She waggled an eyebrow at Daniel, who 'ohhed' as he caught her meaning. "How about you tell me more about your idea?"

"The tenor of the recount changes at Iolani's Joining." He started walking fast again.

"Daniel!"

* * *

Mac looked at the 'complication', a group of pre- and early teen girls. It was funny how you could be told something, believe you understood, and find the reality more-real than you could imagine. Between nearly every pair stood a liquid nitrogen thermos. It deeply concerned him how foolhardy their plan was, especially the necessary abrogation of correct handling protocols.

The youngest girls were being shepherded into the furthest trucks first. After that was completed - Mac looked at his watch - then the plan went into high action.

BOOM!!

Mac tapped the shoulder of the girl closest to him. She and her sister hefted the thermos and dashed smoothly out to the truck that had pulled up, two more girls running ahead and up into the back Mac tapped another pair and then another, while keeping an eye out for guards. Fourth pair sent. Guards! "Down." He pressed the button in his pocket. The tree fell across the compound. Mac pushed the final pair of girls ahead of him, hoisting the sixth thermos and following. He knocked their counter sign on the truck behind the driver's seat, watching the girls secure the last thermos as they peeled out.

Jack looked at the two women riding shotgun with him, hoping that didn't become literal. Shock and awe were about all they had to get three trucks and all souls aboard out and far away. "Now."

Each of the women activated their improvised remote detonators. A barrage of wired-together C-4 went off in the distance like claymores. The other controlled just enough explosives to 'damage' the underground facility.

Jarod shifted gears as he rushed the fence, barreling into the woods and turning sharply to avoid trees too big to run over. Behind him he'd left several trucks that had tried to pursue only to lose their tires. It was very effective in impeding the few vehicles that hadn't been sabotaged or appropriated. Jarod burst out of the woods and onto the road, pushing down on the gas.

Jim listened as he kept moving out of the area, weapon at the ready. Makepeace's subordinates had been thrown into confusion, and were only now calling for support. The SGC team had taken out the dish uplink. Jim smiled ferally as guards located phone numbers and tried one cell after another. Out of service area message after out of service was sweet.

Jack looked at his side mirror at the light thump, relaxing at the 'all clear' signal thrown by Jim before crawling into the back. Jack floored it, heading for the nearest cell tower.

* * *

Aihleana and Neuawt stood back to back, swaying gently in time, arms rising and falling in unison. Their heads lolled, bringing left earridge to left earridge, then right to right. Languid movement simmered, noses flared, ear to ear surged, broke, switched, surged again.

Aihleana gripped Neuawt's wrists as they both stiffened while meshing right ears. Their knees unlocked, bent and they dropped to the floor.

* * *

Sam looked at Daniel, thinking this was a poor idea. If he was right, there really wasn't much they could do, and if he was wrong it would be embarrassing. She came with him for damage control, and because Daniel so often was incisively right. Shutting him down, without ironclad reason, didn't work.

As they approached the entrance veranda Daniel brushed his fingers over the chimes. Sam smiled at the unconscious melody. They stopped before they reached the door, out of the way to other verandas. They waited.

Waited. They stood long enough that Sam felt selfconscious. Daniel just viewed the structure, oblivious to the people on balconies and other stairs. She turned from watching Daniel as she heard a door open.

"Greetings, Aihleana." Daniel smiled.

* * *

General Hammond put down the phone after confirming Col. O'Neill's requisitions with McGuire. He wondered just what had happened at Pocotopaug. He'd know in several hours. The less said the less the Centre could learn.

He turned to the regular tasks of running the SGC. Teams operated around the clock, and he rotated along with the most pressing matters. Time management and good support staff were vital.

"Scheduled Off-world Gate activation."

General Hammond smiled and went down the control room. "Welcome back, SG-6."

* * *

Sam looked between Aihleana, Daniel, and Neuawt. Yes, Neuawt. Very much alive, if sleepy. Daniel was his usual charming and diplomatic self. She knelt and kept quiet.

"Yes."

Sam perked up at the admission.

"But not with a Host."

"No. Iolani Joined before she took Pynant." She reached back to Neuawt.

Sam wondered at Aihleana's melancholy.

"So Pynant was the first to survive being remembered?" Daniel was struck by another question. "Wotril remembered no one. Nor Chnoro."

Aihleana chuckled.

Daniel looked at Sam, Sam turned to Aihleana and then to Neuawt.

Neuawt looked to Aihleana, then faced Daniel. "No. They couldn't remember. Wotril had been sought but he'd devoted himself to art. He was Joined."

"And Chnoro?"

Aihlena looked at Neuawt, "Would you go and get us some pastries?" She smiled as he took his leave and exited. She turned serious. "Chnoro isn't a polite topic. You couldn't know that, so there is nothing to forgive. The scandal made the selection process much stricter."

Sam and Daniel looked between each other.

"You were surprised." Aihlena paused, clearly gathering her thoughts into words. "It's like you don't know the most basic facts, though we've seen you're very informed on many topics."

Sam replied. "You're right. If I'm understanding correctly, your women mate once, giving birth repeatedly afterwards."

"We remember, yes. This is different for you?"

Sam and Daniel both found that a difficult question.

* * *

Jarod looked over at the girl that was sitting beside him. She'd been part of his team in rescuing the nursery immates. "It worked." He couldn't say they were free now, that would depend on what happened after they got off this plane. Jarod looked at the other men, at the children. They had better than even chances.

When he'd seen the girls, realized what Eden was, realized what had been done to Miss Parker, Jarod knew. Knew that he'd been livestock, to a level deeper and more basic than anything he'd considered. He couldn't see himself in them; he couldn't help seeing himself in them.

"You're different." She looked at the others, then back at him. "You're like us."

Jarod closed his eyes. "When I was a child, I was stolen from my parents."

Jack looked over their charges as they flew in the belly of a transport plane. He'd had a few moments with Blair to get the short version. He really wanted to shoot Makepeace again. Just involving himself with such an outfit was cesspool snorkeling.

Jack glanced over to the safety box where the thermos were nestled. From there his eyes went back to Jarod, who was as far away from the box as he could be without flying the bird. Jack wouldn't forget Jarod's rage. He was dangerous. So was Jack. They'd both been trained and honed. Even North Korea didn't start soldiers as young as the Centre. Yet, as far as the crew was concerned, Jarod was just a Marine. Makepeace and the girls had been his tapdancing limit.

He didn't envy Gen. Hammond any of this mess. Numbering just short of three score, keeping the girls away from the Centre without making them just as much prisoners as ever would be difficult. Then there was Jarod, and for that matter Makepeace. Jack didn't kid himself that Makepeace might not be more useful as a bargaining chip than rotting in Levenworth. It was good not to be the general.

He spared a look towards Jim and Blair. Something was off there, but Jack didn't know it wasn't just the normal woohoo of heightened senses. McQueen was brilliant in putting brevity into debriefing. Reading Blair though made him suspicious. How a master of obfuscation could be that open--

He moved over to the cluster of girls that were trying to calm their sister, a infant on the cusp of being a toddler. "She teething, wet?" Not that the accommodations weren't enough to make one cranky. The girl looked up at him.

Jack sat down, stretching one arm across his lap. "The O'Neill charm claims another woman." Once the child was firmly on his thigh he started bouncing his leg. It was going to be a long flight. Jack smiled. Too bad his kids were missing this.

* * *

"Major, this wasn't your scheduled check-in." Hammond didn't allow his relief that SG-1 wasn't under fire to show. Heaven knew that if things seemed peaceful, SG-1 had better than even odds to be chest deep in it.

"I know, sir. There's some equipment I need, it can come through when we are scheduled to check in. I'm sending that, and our recent findings. Anything you need to say, sir?"

"No, major. Carry on."

"Thank you, sir. Carter out." The transmission ended and the Gate closed.

Sam stepped away from the MALP, looking back at Aihleana. Things had become a bit awkward once the locals had learned how alien the Taur'i were. It had been decided that one of them could return to the Gate, and since she was the one that would install the sensors--

"Um, while we're waiting, maybe we can go over what sort of variation can be expected?" She slowly moved towards the pools. "I've requisitioned a gamut of gauges; temperature, salinity, viscosity."

Sam wondered what would happen if their hosts figured out SG-1 weren't all women. Not that they would risk it. Daniel considered it an "exemplary model of xenocentrism." In absence of contradictory evidence they'd been taken as tufted, protuberanced Aolau with, in Teal's case, a verified shocking lack of spots. Since their culture didn't encourage men in skilled, complex professions, they presumed explorers would be women. It really was too bad the colonel had missed this mission.

* * *

Blair had watched as a cluster of small girls, likely between four and six years old, had gathered around Jim, sitting in the same aloof way; spines straight and faces forward. It was uncanny, doubly so in the seating of parachutes and rolled cargo nets. None of them were the daughters Jim had recognized. Those children were scattered around the bay. He noticed that Pamela was sitting slightly apart, not joining the clusters that had formed around Jack, Mac, and Jarod. She looked back at him and he made his way over to her.

He sat down, waiting for her question. Waited. He started fidgeting. When he looked over at her, he saw the smile in her eyes. So like Jim. "You're seven, right?" It was inane, but all the usual topics were worse. She nodded slowly.

"You care for him."

Blair smiled brightly. He saw that her mouth joined her eyes finally. "You're very observant."

"He's not happy."

Trust that she'd notice that.

She tilted her head towards Jarod, surrounded by older girls. They were talking at what counted as conversational in the plane. "He was angry. Very angry." She looked back to Jim. "Does he need to be angry?"

Blair stared at Pamela. He thought about the question, thinking it was one of the most incisive things he'd ever heard. "Jim used to be a detective. He's upset when he can't bring the guilty to justice." He wasn't sure how to explain this to a child, especially a child who'd not seen the things he'd taken for granted at her age. "He probably does need to be angry. But, Jim knows how to harness his anger." Jim also knew how to direct it at himself, and how to wallow in misplaced guilt.

Blair reached out a hand to Pamela. "Let's go cheer him up."

Mac looked up from his latest bit of toymaking. Mac knew about game face, about being in the moment. Jim however hadn't lost the facade, not once they were cleared onto the base, not once Jack had gotten them a plane. He'd efficiently helped the children out of the trucks, diligently settled them in to eat, found them new clothes, loaded them into the plane. Clearly the reaction wasn't foreign to Blair; worrying but familiar.

Mac saw that Blair had gotten up, and was now returning with a blonde child. They settled back in. Mac turned at the gentle pull at his sleeve. He finished the eye he'd been drawing and handed the doll to the girl. When he looked back over, Blair was telling a story. Looked to be a good one, the girls that had been joining Jim on Easter Island were cracking. Listening to Blair quickly became a whole body experience.

"That's not what happened."

Blair looked at Jim. "Were you there?"

"You told this one to the gang, with Henri in the room. There was no latitude for shading."

Blair looked contrite, looking his audience in the eye one by one. Until he caught Jim, where his plea for forgiveness turned into 'Gotcha'. "Jim, you better finish this one then. We can't have these impressionable girls misled."

He'd been had. "Blair was correct up to the number of pies. There were only two, one pumpkin, one cherry. There were no cream pies, no rhubarb. It was fall, and who's heard of rhubarb pie in fall? Blair was behind a tall stack of batteries, value packs of Ds, Cs, triple As." He got into the story, playing up the slapstick as Blair had been, leaving out the hostage who'd been there, omitting the gun that had been taken out by a well placed can of sardines. Who besides Blair could stop at a supermarket at three in the morning and interrupt the setup to intercept a major drug shipment that had gotten on the wrong produce truck? It was a funny story, especially the part with the liquid floor wax and the potato buds. Blair had told the story at least six times the first week, twice as command performances for the officers whose squads had had to take the perps in. The scene had been horrific, ambulances and squads in a nearly deserted parking lot, Blair's Volvo in the center. Until he heard Blair explaining to one of the bakers about the origins of the modern wedding cake, and that cupcakes would be an update looking to the past.

Mac leaned back, wondering what words went with the fine time everyone was having. The story promised to be a great one. He noticed that his circle had drifted towards Jim and Blair, and realized that he had made everything he could into toys. Glancing at Jarod's knot, Mac moved over to Jack, currently playing with a nearly-a-toddler making a grab for his hat.

Mac scooped up a toddler from a tired nine-year old, 'saddling' her over his leg. "Not bad." He looked over to see a girl of seven assist one of the young women settle a baby, the girl clearly the teacher.

"They didn't want the ones that had lived free 'corrupting' the younger ones."

Mac concluded it had been a very good decision to restrain Makepeace up with the flightcrew.

"Kidnapping every year versus a few years of night- and daycare..." Jack suavely handed off the scrunch-faced baby. He was quickly given an infant and a bottle.

Mac chuckled. When he noticed no one over three was by them, he leaned closer to Jack. "What's going to happen to them?"

Jack shrugged, shifting the baby further up in his arm. "Hammond will figure out something." What that something would be he didn't know. Jack glanced over to the thermos crate. Solomon wouldn't know what to do. He looked down on the baby's wispy-haired head. It was funny how even over oil, sweat and the chemical head, baby smell was stronger. Jack kissed her crown.

* * *

Daniel looked out towards the waterfall in the distance. He wanted to see if there was more about the Caretakers to be learned, yet the Elders had restricted their access to the cave, permitting only Sam to return to request materiel, while they convened.

He was angry at himself. His haring off when why there were so few men became clear to him had flipped the tenor of their interaction from intrigue to suspicion. They wouldn't have been able to do anything; if the symbiote hadn't suppressed the normal hormones and enzymes Neuawt would have already been dead when they arrived. All it did was make evident how alien they were.

He never learned. He laughed bitterly. Ironic for such a supposedly smart man. A man that had trashed his own career, brought Apophis upon his beloved wife, and thoroughly messed up being Ascended.

"You are troubled." Teal'c stepped towards the window, behind his friend. He regarded Daniel as he turned. "Was it not your quick thinking that saved the Gadmeer, and returned the Enkarans to their homeworld? Realized the Eurondans weren't truthful about their war's causes? You opened your Gate, defeated Ra, halted Apophis' fleet from seizing your world, and rescued Ernest Littlefield.

"Your strength is that you act on your convictions, and your convictions stem from your knowledge. We have often faced difficulty due to differences real or perceived. This is but one such setback."

"I'm that easy to read."

"Like a book, Daniel Jackson."

Daniel shook his head, unable to resist laughing. Teal'c's infinitesimal brow arch only heightened Daniel's mirth. Eventually he regained his composure, smiling. "Thanks."

* * *

Jack looked up from his grip on Makepeace, straining for any glimpse of Jarod. He'd taken advantage of Makepeace's attempt to escape to escape himself- successfully, Jack had to add. "Ellison!"

Jim turned his head, leaving Blair dabbing air. After a few minutes he spoke. "Sorry." He couldn't spot Jarod. He winced as Blair resumed his first aid. Makepeace had gotten his bellychain free and whipped it at Jim's head. Scalp wounds bled fast and the impact had made Jim's ears ring. He grinned as SFs resecured Makepeace, furious and beaten. Jim turned, looking over the girls. He calmed when he found all charges safe and accounted.

Jack considered his options. "Let's go." Explaining why they'd passed off a prisoner as a Marine would open questions he couldn't answer even if he was well rested. He wasn't, and his priority was getting the girls to safety.

It took more than an order; between material specialists to unload and reload the liquid nitrogen, and the motor pool dickering between passenger vans and buses, it was another hour before they again were headed to the Mountain.

Blair had decided it required a singalong. Wheels on the bus go round round round was going to get some new verses the next time they didn't have tender ears along. Not that Jack thought Blair was wrong. Jack personally taught them Row, Row, Row Your Boat as a round, There was an Old Woman that Swallowed a Fly -and- The Hole in the Bottom of the Boat. Sadly, they arrived before he could get to Meatballs on Top of Spaghetti.

"O'Neill." General Hammond looked at the children and young women pouring out of the buses, snatches of songs blending together. "Who are these?"

"We cut down the tree but the apples needed a home."

"Debrief as soon as you can get your charges to the infirmary." Hammond took a look at Ellison. "And your wounded treated."

"Yes, sir." Jack started herding the flock.

Janet blinked when she saw the first five girls enter the infirmary. Then ten more entered. "Colonel."

"Back here, Janet." Jack was holding a girl of four.

Janet turned from Mac to the voice. She started to smile, fought it, lost the corners of her mouth but held the center. "New look?"

Jack put his knit hat back on one-handed.

"How many do we have here?" Janet was trying to count, but there were too many places for small people to dash around. Her nurses started picking up kids and seating them three to six to a bed, depending on size. "They all look--" She noticed that the women were wearing BDUs as were some of the preschoolers. Preschooler BDUs... "PX." The rest were wearing various tee-shirts, shorts and leggings.

"Family resemblance." He looked before him and then behind. "Ellison." He turned back to Janet. "He got clipped with a chain across the forehead." He directed girls to part and let Jim through. Blair he caught as he passed. "Here, shower, then briefing room." He let the anthropologist follow Janet and Jim before waving to Mac. "General won't mind if we shower first." He gave himself a sniff. "In fact, he'd insist."

Mac smiled, pointing Jack to lead the way.

* * *

General Hammond started to greet Jack when he realized he and Mac were dressed the same. His gut told him there were shenanigans up. "Gentlemen." He waited for them to sit down. Mac had cut his hair. Then he noticed the eyebrow scar. He looked at 'Jack'. No scar.

"I notice the absence of Jarod."

"Sir, he escaped during the distraction of Makepeace trying to escape through Major Ellison."

Hammond snorted at that bit of tactical stupidity. He directed his question to 'Jack', "What did Sandburg do to him?"

"Emergency chute."

Hammond nodded at that. "Colonel," He turned to 'Mac' "did you try to apprehend him?"

"I judged securing the mission outweighed the loss, sir."

"Correct decision." Hammond found it a relief not having to decide Jarod's fate. It was a security breech, but from Blair's report, Jarod was slipperier than a rabbit by briar. A hunt would have drawn more attention to the girls. He looked over at Mac impersonating Jack, then at Jack. His clone had had hair about that color, as he thought about it. "Now, about those girls.."

* * *

The debrief was winding down, Jim and Blair having added their part once they 'escaped' the infirmary. Doctor Fraser entered, handing the General a folder before sitting down.

"Doctor, you have something to add?"

"They are very fit girls, and I've got them bunked down in 25R3 suites. However, in my examinations I found that nine of them are pregnant, a couple of months. I've not told them this yet, figuring they should sleep first."

Jim's molars being ground could be heard.

Blair jumped in. "Nine? The oldest ones?" It didn't make a lot of difference...

"Yes. I'm to understand there was donor egg harvesting?"

Blair nodded, everyone else too stunned to answer.

"While I'm not an expert, I found no evidence that the storage was compromised during the journey. I am however at a loss to know what we're going to do with it."

"Keep it away from the NID and Area 52." Jack stood, frustration needing venting. "More coffee?" He held up the carafe. "Which does bring up the question of how we provide those girls with safe homes. The Centre wouldn't think twice before killing to get them back." He returned to his seat, pouring Fraser a top-off. "Actually, sir, we need to find out if they killed to get some of those girls. Cuckoos."

Working with Daniel had made Hammond more capable in interpreting Jack. He turned to Blair for confirmation.

"The Centre runs an infertility clinic, that still serves as an adoption agency for unwed mothers. The files will likely show that clients were 'treated' with Eden blatcysts, only to have their daughters stolen several years later." Blair looked at Janet. "We should see if the files mention your patients' implantations." He looked to Hammond. "Sir?"

"By all means. Doctor." Hammond looked up as Blair nearly bounced out of his seat. "After that, straight to a VIP room." He got the 'Yes, Dad' look which he'd long ago decided to take as a compliment. "That goes for you also, Doctor."

"Yes, sir."

"General..." Jack hadn't had a chance to ask about SG-1 and he was very conscious now of Mac.

"You know your team." Hammond watched Jack become more agitated, drawing on his training not to burst out. Right, he must be getting tired. "They're fine, not-Daniel fine, actual fine. Mac, I'll make good on your deal tomorrow. Jack, find him some quarters and I'll bring you up to speed afterward." He watched them leave. Hammond was surprised when he turned back around and found that Major Ellison was still there.

"Permission to speak privately, sir?" His parade rest was diagram perfect.

"Granted."

"I've learned who two of the Attis subjects were." Jim paused. "Col. O'Neill and myself."

Hammond sat down. "You're sure." He didn't doubt that Ellison was, just as he knew O'Neill wasn't privy to this knowledge.

"Yes, sir."

Hammond swallowed. "How many?" Not that that made a difference, but he figured that Ellison shouldn't have to carry the secret by himself. Him and Blair. He should know what he was going to keep from Jack in its entirety.

"Six and five. The pregnant girls, one each."

Explaining the dental mayhem. "Do you have thoughts about the frozen embryos?"

"I concur with Col. O'Neill. I agree with the girls also."

Hammond wondered about this opinion, as it hadn't come up in the debriefing.

"They go together."

* * *

Sam stood from her work of installing the last of the sensors. She was surprised when two of the Elders approached her.

"I was just going to send Aihleana with the display. She started for it. "It's easy to read- this button lets you see each pool's information in detail, this button scrolls through parameters individually for all of the pools and the chamber itself--"

"I'm sure it's most impressive. We've come to a decision and we understand that you are in charge of your party. First, we again thank you for saving the Rjoshnari, as well as Aihleana's life. We take your fortunous arrival as a reminder that difference is not necessarily bad. Second, we believe there is much we can learn from you, and we hope you from us.

Sam waited for 'Third, but'.

"It is true the pools do put the Rjoshnari at a risk, one we'd not considered while there was a Caretaker. For reasons you may not appreciate, we restrict access to the cave to to-be hosts, hosts at the end of their days, and hosts that might assist the latter. This stricture of course did not apply to the Caretaker. We will need a Caretaker, though your instrument will be most appreciated as a backup. We also need a way to secure our Gate. Moving it is out of the question."

Sam thought that 'but' was about to rise.

"We believe a delegation of your people is the best solution to these issues. Some provision for their coming and going can be decided, but they would need to commit to extended stays, to avoid disturbing the pools frequently and drawing the unwanted attention your accounts have suggested.

"They will need to respect official venues of interaction. In exchange we will not interfere in their domestic arrangements and will provide maintenance for them and their dependents."

Hostages, Sam thought. "We can provide you with a way to prevent your Gate from being successfully dialed. We'd like to get to know your people better, exchange knowledge." Now it was a question of which 'but' was exposed first.

"Speak of it with your superior." With that they parted.

* * *

"Carter, report. Where's Daniel?" Jack thought a moment. "And Teal'c. I do care about him and the Marine."

There were times Jack's cutting up were annoying. Right now, it was touching. "They're in the city. We've got a problem--"

"Spit it out."

"We saved a woman and a collection of symbiotes, not Gou'ld, sir, a completely new species, both of them and now the natives want us to send an embassy."

"Want as in insist."

"Yes, sir."

Clearly 'fine' as in actual fine, was sliding closer to Daniel-fine, which he supposed was reasonable since Daniel was a linguist and so he should know what words meant. "What are they meaning by 'embassy'?" Might as well do definitions, make sure everything was clear.

"I think they want assurances that we'll protect them, in order to protect our people."

Hostages. "And the rest of SG-1 won't be returned until we agree to this?"

"That's what I'm getting. The symbiotes are a big thing to them, and our embassy would be watching over the symbiotes."

Jack thought that through. "And why would they do that? I mean, why would the natives want our people to watch their symbiotes--do symbiote things?"

"Politics. They need a disinterested party, and the old one died."

Jack had a lot of questions but today was busy for the Gate. "Look, I need some assurance about the rest of SG-1. See if they'll let you swap with one of the others." He wanted to ask for Daniel, but resisted. "I'll talk with Hammond. Again in four hours. O'Neill, out." Connection broken, Jack pulled off his ball cap and slapped himself in the thigh with it. Why did things like this happen to his team?

Okay, it sounded like it might not be as bad as first glance would suggest. The natives wanted hostages, who'd have them by the symbiotes. He'd like it less badly if they didn't have his kids as leverage. He was missing something. He pulled his cap off again to rub his sandy brown hair.

"How do you think I lost mine?" Hammond chuckled as Jack shoved his cap back on. "What'd Major Carter have to say?" He headed back into the briefing room, and Jack followed.

"Just the usual 'we're hostages', 'the natives want an embassy', 'internal social issues' and 'interstellar security'. I've just noticed that 'fine' is a four letter word that starts with F."

"Are they in any danger?"

"I don't think so. Apparently they're a bit of heroes. Does no one have parades any more?" Jack decided he'd played as loose with George as Hammond could let him get away with. He sat down, staying in the upright position. "It reminds me of medieval hostage swaps, except here the 'hostages', the embassy they want, has the exchanged hostages in their muddy hottubs." Jack tried to parse his sentence and couldn't figure out how to improve it.

"And the interstellar security?"

"The kids must have explained why we're out there, exploring." It did make them a sensible people, if he did really hate their tactics. Your team being used was different. Wouldn't stop him from zooming the next time zig and zag didn't work..

Hammond considered the answer. "Has Janet told them yet? Was Blair right?"

"She was on her way when I last saw her, so I'd say yes. The records are very comprehensive and tidy."

* * *

"Doctor Janet?" The young woman looked over her shoulder to where the petite doctor was studying her identification tattoo. At the small of her back, she couldn't see the patch of squares and rectangles.

Janet straightened the bottom of the woman's shirt. "Yesterday I got some results back that I didn't mention, because I deemed that after the journey you'd had, it would be unwelcome stress. It's not news that changes that quickly. I wanted to give you all of the information at once, but I'm not good enough at reading your pattern."

Janet squared her shoulders and looked Diane in the eye. "You're pregnant, and we have computer files to match you to the files of the embryo you're carrying."

"May I see the printouts?" Diane looked to the folded paper up Janet's sleeve. She was just as intent as when she'd leveled the tranquilizer gun yesterday.

Janet pulled them out, unfolding and pressing them flat before offering them. She waited while the woman read, flipping back and forth between pages. She became increasingly agitated when she saw no change in Diane's expression.

Diane looked up. "We'll be able to reconstruct who the children are. Our tattoos are MaxiCode, designed to be readable despite topological changes by a computer hooked to a scanner. At what stage are we?"

"Eight weeks, give or take." She'd prepared herself for a number of different reactions, but not this dispassionate, clinical one. "Diane, I need to speak to your sisters." She held her hand out for the paper.

Diane handed them back. "You should tell them together. Really, it will be better that way. You'll only have to do this once more."

"You don't have any reaction to this?"

Diane stood, and guided Janet to sit down. "I was stolen. I don't know what happened to Mommie after she kissed me good night eleven years ago and closed my bedroom door. Daddy was away on business. I hope they didn't hurt her, but I know she wonders what happened to me, and I don't know if that pain wouldn't be worse. Has she spent the last eleven years wondering if it's better if I'm alive or if I'm dead?

"I've had eggs harvested every three months for the past four years. Yesterday I touched some of my sisters for the very first time. We've escaped, but are we really free? So, no, I'm not upset that I might be my brother's mother." She placed her hand low on her stomach. "At least I know where this one is." Diane sat down next to Janet.

Janet grabbed Diane's free hand, sniffing and checking the woman's pulse. Here she was setting off the pregnant woman because she'd expected her to be overwrought about the news. She found herself being pulled into a hug.

"Do you really want to do that eight more times?"

* * *

Mac found he had to work very hard not to profit from the base thinking he was Jack. After the first few times he just saluted back and headed off like he was very busy. The General had explained that things were complicated just now, and he'd have to wait a bit longer for his 'deal'. Unless Mac wanted to leave and take a raincheck.

He wasn't daunted that easily. Since the General was going to tell him about the rumble, he was allowed a fair amount of liberty. Okay, some of that was extra, because people saw the hair and saluted. Mostly Mac kept to where he was supposed to be allowed. That didn't mean he didn't try shaking the presents as it were.

So far he knew the rumble was called a Gate. Scheduled Gate activation. Unscheduled Gate activation. Either way SFs and medical personnel moved at greater or lesser speed according to whatever secure orders they got.

The thing about gates was they connected a here to a there. Mac didn't know where 'there' was. Except that 'there' had to explain anthropologists and archaeologists as well as Special Forces and Rangers. That part still didn't make sense, but then he didn't know Daniel well. Maybe field linguistics _was_ his role.

Mac had an idea. All he needed was a computer, and he thought he knew just the place he wouldn't be disturbed.

* * *

Ostensibly, Jack was working on his report, albeit in Daniel's office. His office only had one door. Daniel's had two, harder to defend but easier to escape. He'd actually reread SG-1's check-ins for the umpteenth time, knowing nothing more than he had after the fifth time. It lead him to believe that Daniel had made some sort of breakthrough insight prior to Carter's terse, unscheduled message.

The problem was, despite knowing Daniel for five years, his outside the box thinking was, still outside the box. Jack tried again. The obvious wasn't the right way to look at it. Nor was the devious way. That left the oblivious way. Jack smiled, rather proud of his wit. He frowned and slapped the desk, of all the harebrained things for Daniel to do-- Jack got up and headed for the control room. Daniel had a lot of 'splaining to do.

Naturally, that meant he got Teal'c. Okay, so that was better than Lt. Shaw. He really wanted to see Daniel. Teal'c however could be pumped unlike Carter, without him jumping to conclusions. At least none anyone could point to. He'd deceived a System Lord as to his loyalty, and that was good enough for Jack.

"He is well and unharmed. Except for the self-inflicted wound to his pride."

For a moment Jack heard 'pride and joy' but then he realized that would have been his pride and joy, but Teal'c wouldn't know that, and then Jack had to rewind the last thirty seconds. Jack then laid his deduction down.

"You are accurate in the broad strokes. It's not always fatal, however."

"Neauwt is still alive?" From the reports he was the only male native they knew well enough to worry about. With any sort of timing involved; Jack was too tired to figure it all out.

"Indeed."

So hosts didn't kill their mates. He could see where that might put pressure on someone to become a host. "They're worried the truth will come out." He still hadn't any cause for the Caretaker's death. "They want teeth in that cave." There was something his team hadn't learned yet. News flash. "Have they said more about this embassy?" Like they were sending anyone through under the circumstances.

"They expect that the delegation would bring their families, that they would be here for years and would continue their lives in all aspects."

Jack shook his head at the fantasy world being painted. "That sounds more like a colony."

"Yes."

Clearly Teal'c believed he could be overhead, though Jack could not. "Forgetting for a moment we couldn't do anything of the sort, and wouldn't do anything of the sort under the circumstances even if we could, what sort of conditions would they be offering?" Jack needed every possible piece of information to get his team home. You could tell a lot from what a person offered, what they considered reasonable, tempting, if not what they could deliver.

"They promise support for this embassy. As you say, they expect more than just an outpost, more than a few families. A real frontier town, with a schoolmarm and a kitemaker."

The first Jack got, Teal'c loved Westerns and had studied the American history that had inspired them. They were willing to 'welcome' around a hundred or two, families included. Required, rather than strongly suggested. But the second part, kitemaker? Jack was at a loss. "As complete as to have a kitemaker?" Teal'c was going to have to give him another clue. His knowledge of Earth was too wide for Jack to always know now just what he'd latched onto. Go fly a kite?

"They would be unimpeded to live their lives according to their mores, and expected to allow the same to their patrons."

Rome, that was clearly a nod to the Romans. They were being offered bread and circuses? No, that was too twisty for Teal'c when Jack hadn't caught onto kitemakers. "Their own protected area, with visitation rights." That was nice and simple.

Teal'c smiled and nodded.

"A park! A reserve, private from their own people." Teal'c also had a penchant for Disney musicals. "Do you believe they could provide that level of support, for a kitemaker?"

"They enjoy a high standard of living, Colonel O'Neill."

Of course this was Teal'c, who had different standards for cryptic. "And their honor?"

"I will see if DanielJackson can place the next check in. In four hours." Teal'c stepped away from the Gate and toward the DHD.

Jack made a cutting motion at his neck. "Shut her down." Good old Teal'c. The natives couldn't tell which side the Gate was opening from. Or that it mattered? One or the other at least, maybe both. He'd need to keep that in mind when he spoke to Daniel. He'd focus on 'when' for the next four hours.

* * *

Mac was more confused than when he'd started. He'd done a little Googling on Doctor Daniel Jackson and found that he'd been associated with the Chicago Oriental Institute prior to his sudden break with same, their choice. He'd posited that the pyramids weren't as recent as history and archaeology declared, which on the surface didn't seem incendiary. His death followed precipitously afterwards.

His death was retracted somewhat over a year later, with him on the payroll of the United States Air Force. Mac broke off at that point, opening the first file that didn't need a password, as there was a knock on Jack's door. He finished the game of Minesweeper after the airman retreated and made his escape.

Mac knew that further digging wouldn't be wise. Curiosity was like an itch; scratching just made it worse. He headed for the conference room they'd given over to the girls. Entering he found most them with chess sets, Othello and other games. He didn't see the babies or toddlers. The few women in the room were reading. Everyone seemed rather quiet.

That ended as they looked up and recognized him, girls jumping out of chairs. He crouched down to put himself closer to eye level. "Sleep well?"

He got nods and yeses. He caught the eye of one of the young women, who smiled slightly. Mac smiled back. He turned back to the kids, having noticed the decks of cards. "Who's the best 'Go Fish' player?" As he expected, no one said 'Me'. "No one knows 'Go Fish'? I could teach you, I'd really like to play."

* * *

General Hammond hung up the phone. Kinsey had somehow gotten wind of their operation and was already on his way to the D.C. airport. The base wasn't big enough to hide the girls during one of his 'inspections'. He pressed the button on his phone intercom. "Any response from Thor?" It was a long shot, but he was at a loss at securing the girls from the Centre, NID and any other players anywhere on Earth. They were adamant that they wouldn't be separated.

Hammond looked at the files on his desk.

"No communication from Thor. Or the Tokra, or the Free Tollans. Master Bra'tac 'extends greetings to General Hammond of Texas, and any assistance he might provide.'"

"Thank you, Harriman." He just might have to take Bra'tac up on that offer of a dusty pallet and short rations. He'd read what the Centre was capable of. He'd have to think long on how to deal with what he'd learned. He fingered the files, then called to stores for sleeping bags, tents and MREs to be prepared and moved to the Gateroom. He was going to do better than that for those girls, but he'd need every option open.

"Sir?" Jack hung onto the door he'd just knocked and opened.

"Walk and talk, Colonel." Hammond exited his office.

Jack caught up with him. "No change with SG-1. They're well-treated according to Teal'c, but the natives are adamant about their 'request'."

Hammond stopped. "Normally, SG-1 would be at the top of my list. Right now I've got a buzzard in the air and a bulls eye painted on the henhouse."

"Kinsey."

"So I expect you to change your priority to those girls too. Otherwise I'll be dialing that Gate to a Jaffa refugee world. Am I understood?"

"Yes, sir." Jack focused on the matter at hand. "No ideas from Jacob?" He thought for a moment. "What about one of the Protected Planets? Or the Land of Light?"

"The Gou'ld watch the Protected Worlds for any treaty violation they can exploit. Those worlds are very primitive and at this point even the girls' presence might be taken as technological aid. And normally Tuplo would be someone I'd call. Currently however their sun is between them and us. And the Tok'ra aren't returning their messages."

"Fine, fine. Fine!" Jack raised his hand, waving it in thought and apology. "Don't suppose we've enough duct tape and paperclips for Mac to fix the Prometheus?"

Hammond smiled at that thought. "Not in four hours. I'm open to all suggestions." He couldn't even stash them in the Antarctica outpost, not when Kinsey would review their budget items.

"Four hours?" Jack was coming up with an idea, one that horrified him even to contemplate. Was it better than a refugee camp? "I'm going to be talking to SG-1 in," he looked at his watch, stalling, "three hours and eighteen minutes."

Hammond's expression went hard. "I know you want your team back--"

"I'm going to check personally if it's a safe place to send them.

Hammond was taken aback.

"I know." When the general nodded to him, Jack started for his office, then grabbed an airman on the way, veering off. As they walked he gave her instructions. He was done before he reached the door. He stood, looking at it.

"It's not automated." Blair grinned as Jack whipped his head to face him. "Probably same reason you are. Ready?"

Jack grabbed the doorknob Blair was reaching for and wrenched it open, barrelling into the room. He looked at the nearest abandoned chess board, impressed at the level of play it represented. "What are you playing?" Mac was holding cards as were three little girls. Other clusters were also playing cards.

"Go Fish!"

Mac took a card from the draw pile.

Jack looked at the room. Clearly they had raided the various rec rooms on base for games, explaining the boards, though why there wasn't Sorry or Monopoly he didn't understand. The Marines couldn't lose the Chance cards that fast. He beelined for the art supplies. They'd had enough kids come through the Gate-- He rifled through the coloring books and pulled one out.

Blair smiled in bemusement. Jack could throw himself into 'going on eight'. He glanced at the coloring page. Animaniacs. He headed to the corner where one of the young women was reading. He made note of the book she was reading, expecting Janet had lent it. Blair sat down.

"You want to know if I want to talk."

"Actually, I want to talk but I'm not sure which of you would be best. Have any of you just, gotten so focused on a sound or a smell that, it was like she wasn't aware of the world?"

She placed a bookmark at her page and looked at him in bated desperation.

"I call it a zone out. It's a condition, and it can be trained around. Who has the problem?" Blair looked around the room, picking out a couple of Jim's daughters.

"She's not-"

Blair at first thought it was one of the older girls, then maybe one of the little ones. Until Jim had regained his suppressed memories Blair had always thought the senses didn't come online until adolescence, but Jim had had them as a child. Her expression wasn't good. "What happened?"

"She was abducted, like all of us older ones. When they brought her in she was terrified, catatonic shock they said. She came out of it eventually, after being left with us. It kept happening though. We tried to hide it. Finally, they took her away."

Blair closed his eyes. He opened them at the squeeze of his hand.

"Tell me more."

Jack looked over at the child that had taken his bait and come to investigate what he was doing. He looked for something to booster her, finally setting her on the table to draw. Soon he was pouring water into glasses for cleaning brushes as other girls joined him. He looked at his watch.

Two hours, six minutes. As he stood to go he looked at the art. Of course he'd expected the escape to be a major theme. There was an orange and yellow 'abstract' he recognized as a spot on gasoline explosion. It was odd seeing an air base as painted by Cezanne. Several were doing portraits. They probably hadn't been told they could use the supplies, he could see them being directed to the games. So, they had played. Jack wanted blood.

He pulled himself back to task. "I've got to go. Have fun."

* * *

"Tell them they'll get their embassy, but I've got to get Carter and Shaw back first." Daniel looked good, but they didn't have much time. He'd planned it out and it should just work.

"You can't be serious!"

"Kinsey is coming." He continued while Daniel spluttered, "You get her here, there, you know what I mean, within an hour. Hour fifteen, max. " From their report that would be difficult, and clearly Daniel knew it too from the way he shouted back to the runner. Difficult, but possible. "She and the Lieutenant Gate back, sit rep. Then I'll Gate over, check things out and 'if' I'm satisfied, bring the embassy through. If I don't like things, I tell Harriman to overload the Gate and take out the symbiotes." And everyone in the cave. If he wasn't bluffing. He was pretty sure he was bluffing, just as sure as he was that Carter could do it.

"Jack, what does agreeing to this have to do with Kinsey?"

"Time's up, Daniel. You just get Sam through and I'll tell you everything in, he looked at his watch, "one hour and six minutes." He signaled the Gate closed.

* * *

Mac looked at the woman in shock. He'd been asked a lot of things, but this, no.

"According to General Hammond we're leaving in less than two hours."

Hearing was the first thing to go in situations like this, and that was when you hadn't been detonating things the night before. Which-- He shut down that digression. "That doesn't make it any better." Mac realized he shouldn't still be able to hit that octave.

"We're going to have our brothers and sisters. Who will our sisters have?"

Mac blinked, wondering where the girls were going. It sounded, remote. "That's not a reason." Okay, he was lying. "Why me?" He'd sometimes wondered that when he was younger, but what with the explosives and adrenaline, reflection hadn't been his strong suit. He hoped they weren't going to ask anyone else. They hadn't already?!

"Level 26, storage room A5. Everything is there."

"Everything?" Again with the squeaking.

"Liquid nitrogen and so forth."

* * *

Jack stepped up to the observation window, looking down into the nursery. A couple of Janet's nurses were watching them, as well as Diane and Helen. Everything was in the Gateroom, he'd double checked it. Twice. He looked at his watch. Thirty minutes to Carter. He saw Janet in the glass.

"There should be another way." He watched her take a breath, caught her looking his reflection in the eye. He tilted his head.

"You wouldn't be doing this if you thought they'd be in danger."

"I sent Merrin back."

"She asked you to. And I don't for a moment believe she didn't know how your lessons would affect her people."

"There should be another option."

"No argument here." Janet watched the kids, two scootering after another on a tiny tricycle. "Sometimes we just have to take what we're given."

Jack pulled away. He needed to find Mac.

* * *

Sam stumbled slightly as she came through the Gate, Lt. Shaw behind her. The puddle shut down. She focused on Jack and Mac standing at the end of the ramp. "Sir?"

"Later, Major."

She came down the ramp. "We are sending them an embassy?" Daniel hadn't had much time to tell her what was going on, why she'd double timed and ran from the city. He'd connected the Gate as she'd reached the DHD.

"Sit rep, Carter."

She stared at Mac. Jack nodded, so she started from the last report she had been able to send and brought the colonel current. She was just recounting the events since she'd left the cave after hooking up the sensors, when she noticed the divot. Its absence. "Mac?"

"So, you think they are going to treat our personnel as honored guests?"

She turned to the colonel, who was rubbing his eyebrow. The sandy-brown hair was strange. "The main worry would be pulling them out. The symbiotes are helpless. It will be self-interest to keep our people happy. Sir, I think we can get Daniel and Teal'c back without such an agreement. Giving them that many people--

"Fire it up!" Jack loped up the ramp, putting on his ball cap. As he went through, the technician stated that Senator Kinsey had entered the facility.

Carter turned from the now smooth puddle to Mac. He really looked like the colonel. She spun as one of the doors slid open.

Girls poured in orderly, forming a neat square where the SFs had been. Another door opened and more girls came in. She looked towards Mac.

* * *

Jack jogged down the stairs, beelining for Daniel. "Where's Teal'c?" He didn't wait for an answer. "Yes or no, will they be safe?" He pressed his fingers over Daniel's mouth as it started to form into words that were neither. He didn't repeat himself, just looked Daniel in the eye. He pulled his fingers away.

"Yes. Jack, this isn't the right way to get us back, they want that many people so they know whoever is here won't try anything. They may allow travel back and forth--" Daniel cut off as he saw three girls and a young woman step through the Gate. Then four girls. A pair leading toddlers. Two teens carrying a container by long handles. Groups kept coming. "What has Kinsey done now?" He hissed the words at Jack.

"This is Daniel."

Daniel swallowed at the chorus of 'Hello, Daniel'. He watched Jack turn.

"Teal'c! Meet the girls." Jack swallowed as Teal'c set down two packs, looking at Jack like he was a System Lord. Jack twisted back to the girls. "He's nice." He tried to look back at Teal'c without turning.

Daniel watched the Gate. "How many are coming through?

"Twenty-three more." Jack saw that all of the thermos had come through. "They've got quarters?"

"Yes," Daniel was distracted as he counted the girls. "Fifty-eight?!"

"Give or take." Jack was watching children spill around him. "Take care about the stalactites, -mites, the pillars." Jack started making popping sounds to play with the echo.

Daniel looked around, catching the Gate close via the reflection in his glasses. "They're Eden."

Trust Daniel to get it in one. "Let's get them settled in, that Gate's not moving until Kinsey bugs out."

* * *

Mac heaved himself over the rail onto the ramp as the door started to slide open. He started to walk down as the Gate popped. "So nice to see you, Kinsey. Too bad you can't stay long." He kept moving down.

Kinsey scowled. "What's the meaning of this?"

"Coming back from a mission, physical, debrief. I'm sure Janet can find an extra glove with your name on it. She loves her work." Mac headed for the door.

"I'm a United States Senator."

"I'm a colonel and either plus $3.50 will buy a cup of coffee."

"What happened?" General Hammond was relieved to see the butterfly bandage. After Jack had pulled a gun on Kinsey in his own house, he doubted the man wouldn't miss the scar.

"The usual." He stopped in the hall. "Just what all is this about?"

Hammond and Kinsey faced off. Kinsey broke first. "Oversight. It's what the American people deserve."

"The American people deserve a lot of things. You aren't one of them." Mac slipped through the door.

* * *

"This was the best place you could find?" Daniel turned, and smiled at the little girl looking up at him.

"It was a toss up between here and a Jaffa refugee camp." Jack looked at Teal'c. "Educational though that would have been, here's what I picked."

Daniel stared at Jack. "You have to be--" He deflated. "serious." Daniel pinched the bridge of his nose.

"When you can't depend on your allies, you must be SGC. Bra'tac will be getting some new tents." He shrugged. "He offered to take them." Jack looked down at the girl balancing against his leg, uncertainly. Her wobbles became more pronounced and Jack scooped her up before she could fall.

Daniel stalked off, picking up his 'tail' before he outpaced her.

"That the city?" Jack stepped behind Daniel, looking over his shoulder.

"No. You have to climb out of the cave to get down to the city."

"So we're looking--"

"Into the calandra. I've not been able to translate the Caretaker's language. I suppose we should take the body back with us when we leave.

"Body?"

"It's mummified. Not one word."

"Let's check out your new digs." Jack chin chucked his passenger.

* * *

Blair looked down at Gate while Daniel, Jack and Teal'c came through. Kinsey fortunately was in the Springs for his campaign and hadn't stayed long. Photo-op at Peterson, fund raising dinner afterwards, each more important than harrassing the SGC. He noticed Jack was wearing his ball cap. "Think he kept it on the whole time?" Blair looked up at Jim wearing his class B uniform complete with beret. SG-8 was already on P4X-235, which stood on a bit more ceremony than some worlds.

"Mac?" Daniel wondered why Mac had silver hair. He whipped off Jack's cap. Blink.

Jack watched the Gate shut down once the MALP came through. He turned to Daniel at the hand against his shoulder. They stepped off the ramp. Jack watched Blair and Ellison enter the Gateroom, the Gate starting to spin for dial out. The whoosh came, retreated and then they walked up the ramp and disappeared through the puddle.

"Welcome back, Doctor Jackson, Teal'c. Debrief at 0800." Hammond turned from the control window as the four men left the Gateroom. He was going to leave the Mountain early tomorrow, pick up Tessa and Kayla from school and spend the afternoon with them.

"Jack, what did you do to your hair?" Daniel looked at Mac. "What did both of you do to your hair?"

Jack turned to Mac. "So, how'd Kinsey-baiting go?"

"He really has a low opinion of you." Kinsey hadn't thought anything Mac had said was out of character for Jack.

"Admit it, you had a good time." Joshing his cousin was easier than thinking of the girls, and kept him from hugging the stuffing out of Daniel.

Mac chuckled. "One of my more unusual vacations." Mac had his answer about the rumble under the Mountain. There was a universe out there, one that like Earth was full of interesting people and some danger.

Jack saw Mac's wistful glance back to the Gateroom. "So, about Blair as a kid?"

* * *

The young girl, in the arms of her sister, placed a picture on the wall. In one corner there were two children, a boy and a girl older than herself, the rest of the page the face of a woman with dark hair. Done, she was lowered to the floor.

The girls and young women looked over the small collection of pictures recounting their flight and their day before coming here. The others they had drawn, but this one was from the plane. It still bore the creases from Jarod folding it. Their mother.


End file.
